Millions to attend national exams

JAKARTA: Around 4 million junior high school students nationwide begin national final examinations on Monday, a senior government official said.

Indra Djati Sidi, the director general for elementary and high school education at the Ministry of National Education, said on Sunday that three subjects, namely Indonesian, English and mathematics, would be mandatory during the exams.

The materials of the remaining subjects were made by the respective schools, Indra said.

Indra said students who failed the exams were eligible to repeat the tests one week after the final exams.

He said the government had spent Rp 217.5 billion for the examinations and was therefore no reason that schools should charge students to take the tests. -- Antara