Students protest exam rerun

Students protest exam rerun

DENPASAR, Bali: Hundreds of students of a state senior high
school here staged a rally at the local education and culture
office on Monday to protest the government's plan to make them
resit their final exams.

The demonstration, which proceeded under the watchful eyes of
the police, began at 8 a.m. local time and lasted until midday.
No violence occurred during the rally, just an acrimonious debate
between the students and the head of the office, Beratha Subawa.

"If the decision is deemed unavoidable, to be fair it must
apply to all senior high schools in the province, not just those
in Denpasar," a student said.

The government ordered the students to resit the exam after
answers to last Monday's examinations on mathematics and civics
were leaked.

Another student questioned on Monday why his school was
affected by the decision since the leak was found in another
school.

After hours of debate, both the office and the students agreed
that students would resit the examination on the two subjects on
Saturday. The office had suggested it take place on Monday.

Beratha told Antara that the cost to the office for a rerun of
the exam would be Rp 100 million (US$12,700). The fund will be
used to print 193,865 questionnaire sheets.

Police are investigating the leak.