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.