Ministry of Education to revise exam formula

P.C. Naommy, Jakarta

Amid a public outcry over the National Final Exams' (UAN) score conversion formula, the education ministry decided on Friday to revise the formula to make the results fairer for high-performing students.

Head of the Research and Development (R&D) Division at the ministry, Dodi Nandika, said the decision was made after reviewing the results of score conversions in Jakarta, Banten, and East Java.

"We have already adjusted the input variables used in the formula for the previous conversion. With the new formula, the scores of extremely high ranking students will standardized closer to their original marks," Dodi said.

A staff member in charge of the standardization said "extremely high" exams scores were those with an accuracy of more than 92 percent -- 37 correct answers out of a total of 40 questions.

Education observers, teachers and students have condemned the standardization system, calling it deceptive and unfair and saying it discriminated against bright students.

The House of Representatives Commission VI overseeing education said the conversion was merely a tool to mark up students' scores nationwide. The reason the ministry originally took central control of the UAN was to eradicate markups by teachers and schools.

The initial conversion process is likely to have made it difficult for high-performing students to get scholarships or enter good high schools.

The wide disparity in the quality of education between regions has forced the ministry to attempt to standardize the marks in a bid to get comparative figures for exam results.

The previous conversion system slashed the scores of students who could correctly answer more than 50 percent of the test questions and raised the scores of those who answered less than 50 percent.

"We will use this experience to establish a better way to evaluate the performance of students and monitor education standards in the country," Director General of Elementary and Intermediate Education Indra Djati Sidi said.

The Ministry of National Education and the House Representatives have created a working committee to discuss education policies, including the formulation of an acceptable final examination for the future.

The committee will also discuss the establishment of an independent body to monitor and control the quality of teaching staff and school management.