Minister Abdul Mu'ti Urges Students to Maintain Integrity During Academic Ability Test

Minister of Basic and Secondary Education Abdul Mu’ti reviewed the implementation of the Academic Ability Test (TKA) for junior high school (SMP) level in Curug, Tangerang, Banten, today. During the review, Mu’ti reminded students and schools to prioritise integrity. He advised students to take the test with enthusiasm, honesty, and without viewing TKA as a burden. “Complete it honestly and joyfully. Because this is part of the process, not the end,” Mu’ti told the students, quoted from the official statement of the Ministry of Education, Basic and Secondary (Kemendikdasmen), on Monday, 6 April 2026. In addition, Mu’ti urged supervisors to carry out their duties professionally. He reminded them that there should be no more supervisors documenting, such as making videos, during the TKA. “No need to make videos or update statuses during the implementation,” he said. To ensure credible implementation, Kemendikdasmen has prepared various cheating prevention systems. Technical protections have been designed from the start to ensure the assessment process runs transparently and accountably. Nationally, the implementation of TKA on the first day reached around 98 percent of the target participants. Meanwhile, about 2 percent of students did not participate in TKA for various reasons, such as psychological readiness or parental considerations. At SMP Negeri 2 Curug, which was visited, the participation rate was recorded at 100 percent. Furthermore, the Minister of Education explained that TKA is designed as a five-in-one system. This means the system is expected to produce five types of educational data simultaneously, covering academic ability, literacy skills, numeracy, character, and learning environment conditions. He also ensured that the implementation of TKA in underdeveloped, frontier, and outermost (3T) areas has been anticipated with a flexible scheme. The questions are not entirely online-based, so schools with device limitations can still conduct the assessment, including through facility-sharing schemes with other schools. For educational units affected by disasters, such as schools experiencing fires and floods, the government has prepared a computer-based supplementary exam mechanism to ensure all participants still receive their rights. “Schools have prepared the implementation as best as possible. With the existing system, we are optimistic that the TKA implementation can provide valid and accurate data as the basis for formulating future education policies,” said Mu’ti. The Principal of SMP Negeri 2 Curug, Purwaningsih, stated that the first day’s TKA implementation at her school ran smoothly without significant obstacles. “Alhamdulillah, the first session went smoothly. We used three rooms with about 20 participants each, so a total of 60 students per session. Today it was carried out in three sessions,” she said. Purwaningsih added that there were no technical obstacles during the implementation, either in terms of network or system. “As can be seen, there are no obstacles. The network runs well and the token is issued according to the specified time. Hopefully, it remains smooth until the last day,” she said. Regarding student preparation, Purwaningsih also mentioned that the school encourages students to adapt to the characteristics of TKA questions. “We only advise students to get used to TKA questions. There is no special guidance, because we want students to adapt naturally. Teachers are also starting to compile similar questions so that students get accustomed,” she said.