Searching for a fair standard

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Fri, 05/26/2006 12:51 PM  |  Opinion

More than 7.2 million secondary school students across Indonesia are anxiously waiting for the results of their national final exams, which will be announced in mid-June. Three long years of study are being determined by the outcome of three days of exams, which conclude on Friday for junior high school students and last week for senior high schools.

For the third year running, the national exams were organized -- and criticized by educators, parents and House of Representatives lawmakers. Turning a deaf ear to the test's detractors, the government has insisted the exams will continue for the next two years in accordance with government regulations on national education standards.

Given education's vital role in human development, it is difficult to understand why the government is continuing with this controversial system.

From a legal point of view, the national exams are a blatant violation of the 2003 National Education Law, which gives teachers, not the state, the authority to evaluate students' performance. It is teachers who best know the capabilities of individual students and whether their charges should qualify for higher education.

Taking this authority away from teachers leads only to a further recentralization of power, in this case to the government, a move which endangers democracy.

Democracy means the state gives individuals the freedom to choose their leaders and greater leeway to act and express themselves politically. However, these hard-won freedoms have recently been challenged by controversial laws like the pornography and state secrecy bills -- both which can be seen as government moves to limit individuals' rights. As does a centralized exams system.

The government has maintained that national exams serve mainly to gauge the quality of education across the regions, but in practice they determine the fate of students. Their efforts for three years will be wasted entirely if they fail to score a grade of at least 4.26 in any of the core subjects tested -- mathematics, English and Bahasa Indonesia.

To many, the national exams promote unfairness, not only because they neglect the long process of study, but also because they assume all students across the nation are equal. Millions of students live in remote, underdeveloped and impoverished areas, which lack important facilities and infrastructure, and are therefore unprepared for competition.

Exams also encourage a culture of superficiality. Rather than properly understanding their course materials, students cram for exams -- using study aid summaries rather than reading course materials.

Or they cheat. Exam fraud involving students, schools and even local government officials are another consequence of the stiff competition for good marks. The emphasis on instant results runs counter to the primary objectives of education as a means to transfer knowledge.

The gloomy state of national education today is the price the nation has had to pay for the government's failure to invest in the sector. A golden chance was squandered when Indonesia profited from the oil boom in the 1970s. Education has been a low-priority sector ever since -- proven in the small allocations in successive national budgets.

Neither has the government complied with the Constitutional Court ruling earlier this year that education spending must account for 20 percent of the state budget.

There is a lot of homework the government must do before it establishes a new national standard for education. The new, larger budget for education should enable the government to build and renovate more schools, equip them with the necessary facilities, provide free education, particularly to poor children, and improve the quality and welfare of teachers.

This year's examinations should mark an end to the country's uneven attempts to raise the standard of national education.

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