Upset parents and students protest school enrollment

JAKARTA (JP): Enraged parents and students flocked to the Jakarta Office of Ministry of Education and Culture yesterday to protest questionable school enrollment criteria.

Parents claim that their children were not admitted to the schools of their choice even with scores above the minimum required.

They suspect that there have been mistakes in either the determination of their children's final exam scores (NEM) or in the enrollment procedures.

Officials also suspect that at least one elementary school has been dishonest in giving exceptionally high scores to its students applying to a popular state junior high school.

The problem essentially stems from the fact that the education office and the schools issue different score lists.

A parent said her daughter, an elementary school graduate from Sunter, North Jakarta, has final scores of 28.6 but the office says that her score was only 24.

"The minimum score required by a state junior high school is 26 so she cannot be admitted," the mother said. "I do not know how this could have happened. I have been going back and forth here for two days."

An employee at one of the 16 posts set up to receive complaints assured her that the matter would be taken care of properly.

Computerization

The enrollment for secondary schools is computerized at the City Office.

In Ciputat, Tangerang, other parents questioned why elementary graduates with low scores could be admitted to such popular junior high schools as the state SMPN I while their children with higher scores had been refused.

A source at the City Office also expressed his suspicion of a list of elementary graduates with unbelievably high scores of 48 in one East Jakarta school.

"This would mean a student got 10 in almost all of the five major subjects," the source said.

The head of the City Education Office, Kusnan Ismukanto, assured that each mistake found would be corrected, though he added, "The mechanism will not likely be changed."

"We have been doing this for 11 years and there have not been any serious problems."

Students with below average scores that have already been admitted by mistake will not been removed because, he said, "this was our fault."

Ismukanto also urged the authorities to investigate any foul play, citing bribery as a likely possibility. (anr)