Student enrollment at state SMA

From Pelita

The City Education and Culture office announced recently that classrooms at all state run senior high schools (SMAN) have been fully filled, except the SMAN in Cilincing, North Jakarta. During the enrollment period, people were even notified that the number of students enrolling in some schools had exceeded the capacity of the schools. That is why the schools set a minimum marks criteria for admittance to their schools. Those students whose total marks are less than 42 were not admitted to the schools.

The Education and Culture office's announcement is not based on the reality because some of the schools have too few students enrolled. They have therefore had to admit students with marks far below the set minimum to fill their empty classrooms.

SMAN VI, Bulungan, South Jakarta, for example, still has to admit more students to fill three empty classrooms, one of its teachers said. The school has admitted students with averages less than the limit set earlier but must pay an illegal extra fee for their admission.

I wonder why the City Education and Culture office failed to check the real capacity of each of the schools. It is saddening that those students who have fairly good marks but don't meet the set minimum are excluded from the schools while students with very low marks are somehow allowed to attend.

M. R. HAUDY

Jakarta