'It's now or never for education reform'

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Thu, 07/06/2006 4:39 PM  |  Opinion

Public anger over the handling of the recent national final examination for high school students continues to rage. But the man at the center of the controversy, Vice President Jusuf Kalla, remains firm in his belief that there is a need for a nationwide final exam for students. The Vice President elaborated on his vision for the national education system, his working relationship with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his future political plans in a recent interview with The Jakarta Post's Imanuddin Razak and a Kompas daily journalist. The following are excerpts of the interview.

Question: Your comments on the results of the recent national final examination have angered the public, especially the parents of students who failed the exam. How do you respond to this?

Answer: The results of the recent national final examination show the true condition of our education system. The current evaluation system should be maintained the way it is, because only with this kind of final test can we learn the true quality of our students. If you say teachers know their students well, why were some involved in cheating, providing their students with lists of answers? It was because they feared their students would not pass the exam and in the end their school's image would be damaged if lots of students failed. And we cannot rely merely on the grades on students' report cards because these might not represent the true capability of a student.

How would you compare our education system with systems in other countries, in terms of quality?

I have been to several countries for different reasons, including to gather information on the quality of other countries' education systems. And Indonesia is considered to be trailing neighboring countries. We only set a passing grade of 4.5 for each subject tested on the recent national final examination, while Malaysia sets its passing grade at seven and Singapore even higher at eight. Meanwhile, students in Jakarta have an average achievement capability of seven. It is obvious that there are gaps in the quality between students in Java and those outside Java. Therefore, a lot of things need to be done to raise the quality in regions outside of Java to help them catch up with Java.

What can be done to improve our education system?

We can gradually increase the intellect of non-Java residents through this measurable mechanism -- the unified written final examination. We (the government) have set the initial passing grade of 4.5 for each subject. Next year we plan to increase it to five, and then six the following year, seven and so on. In order to meet the target, we'll need to upgrade the quality of our teachers and provide the necessary infrastructure for all regions. We can allocate more money for those regions that currently rank lowest in the country's education performance index.

Is it possible to impose a unified grading system nationwide while those regions outside Java do not seem ready yet?

That's why we have to do it gradually. But we have to start it now, otherwise we'll never reform our national education system. You know what, this country has been fooling the people by always telling them that non-Java residents are intellectually below Java residents. But there have been no efforts taken to narrow the gap between Java and other regions. This is a systematic fooling of the people. We have to stop this.

But some experts say that it's unfair for the government to impose this system on regions outside Java now.

That's the same mistake we have been doing for decades. For years we have been artificially raising the scores of students outside Java, so the quality of high school graduates in the regions has always been far below their Java colleagues. Students took it for granted in the past that they would most likely pass the exam, as each region imposed its own grading system, which were different from one another but all below the system in Java. But with the current (national) system, they cannot relax anymore and must study hard if they want to pass the exam.

Still, the government's decision to maintain the national final examination has been criticized in part for failing to consider that several students who failed the examination were obviously bright kids who had excelled in the Physics Olympiad.

These reports were not completely accurate. It is true that a student in Central Java, who failed in math, had been a participant of a Physics Olympiad. However, the Olympiad was not held at the national level. It was held by a local university for local high school students. And the student did not win the Olympiad, either. He placed sixth. And he might be quite good in physics, but math is tested in the national final examination, not physics.

Setting aside the issue of education, there are rumors that you and President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono have disagreed on several issues. Can you comment on this?

No, it is not true. Every state policy that I make or deliver to the public must be made only after consultations or discussions with the President. (The interview was stopped for several minutes as Kalla received a telephone call from Yudhoyono.) Like just now, I was telephoned by the President regarding measures to help the May 27 earthquake victims in Central Java and Yogyakarta.

To wrap up, could you comment on your preparations for the 2009 general election?

Let me tell you, I don't really bother with all these 2009 election preparations. The most important thing is that I do what I have to do for the betterment of the country and the people. I don't care if what I do for the country and the people is strongly criticized. As long as it bears fruit for the future of the country, I'll continue working for it. Let the people see the results of what I have been doing, instead of giving them (election) promises that I may not be able to meet.

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