School final examination still needed: Official

School final examination still needed: Official

JAKARTA (JP): Officials at the Ministry of Education and
Culture maintain that state-run national school final
examinations (Ebtanas) are still necessary, despite some flaws.

Speaking to journalists during a break in a hearing between
education minister Juwono Sudarsono and House of Representatives
Commission VII for education, Director General of Elementary and
High School Education Indra Djati Sidi described calls to abolish
the national exams as "emotional".

"I think we must look into the philosophy (of why the exams
are held)... They function as an accelerator for schools to
advance their achievements," Indra said.

The mandatory examinations were also designed as a means for
the ministry to evaluate individual schools and the effectiveness
of the national curriculum, he explained.

Students in elementary, junior high and senior high schools
across the country are required to take state exams in addition
to final school exams in order to graduate.

However, state exams, which are drafted by the government,
have been dogged with controversy as reports of leaks of exam
questions become an almost annual phenomenon.

Controversy over the examinations surfaced again during a
hearing with the House a week ago when the Indonesian Association
of Education Scientists (ISPI) suggested that the exams be
scrapped.

The association claimed that the exams were held too often and
were too easily marred by officials either leaking the questions
or manipulating the final results, which are commonly referred to
as NEM.

It suggested that such government-organized examinations be
replaced instead by school examinations. Such a measure, they
added, would also allow students to thoroughly study subjects in
which they were particularly interested without being overly
burdened by studying subjects required in a national curriculum
which often had little significance to the students' everyday
lives.

The association argued that teachers could also truly
"educate" their students and not just merely drill them to get
good grades in national exams.

Indra admitted that there were still problems with the
implementation of national exams, however the government would
continually address these problem per case instead of scrapping
the whole policy.

University

Meanwhile, the ministry's Director General of Higher Education
Bambang Suhendro told reporters that the government would allow
university authorities to decide for themselves how far they
would tolerate students' political activities on campus.

"The government will let university leaders and students make
their own agreements.

"The government will view only the rector as the one in charge
and responsible for the campus. So to what extent a rector gives
(his students) freedom will depend on him alone," Bambang
remarked.

Bambang said Guidelines for Student Organization was currently
being drafted by a team of university deputy rectors in charge of
student affairs.

The new guidelines, expected to be completed by the end of the
month, would become the basis for consideration to replace
Ministry of Education and Culture Decree No. 0457/0/1990 which
covers student activities on campus.

He said the guideline would allow greater freedom for student
organizations and that students themselves would be allowed to
discuss the form their organizations take with their university
leaders.

Touching on the economic crisis which has hit the nation and
caused nearly a third of students from elementary to high schools
to drop out, minister Juwono told legislators that steps had been
taken to reduce the financial burden of obtaining an education.

Among these include an end to tuition fees into all state
schools, the provision of free books for basic subjects and
students will be exempt from purchasing new school uniforms if
their parents' cannot afford to buy them.

He also assured legislators that stern measures would be taken
against those who demanded additional or unnecessary fees to be
paid under the guise of school necessities. (aan)