Students want to re-sit exams

PADANG, West Sumatra: The seventy-eight students from Dhuafa vocational high school, who walked out of their national exams last week, approached Padang Legislative Council on Thursday to demand repeat exams.

The students, accompanied by their school principal and teachers, staged a protest outside the council building before being acknowledged by council members.

Student Nur Afni said she and her fellow students were hoping to be given a chance to re-sit the exams.

""Repeat exams scheduled for students that missed the tests due to illness have been prepared, but it's yet to be decided whether other students will get the chance to repeat exams. We hope the council members will support us,"" she said.

The students walked out of the exams to protest cheating they claimed was conducted by other students with the help of their teachers. The accusation was later disproved.

""We hope the National Education Standards Body, as the national exams organizer, will prepare a schedule for our students to repeat their exams,"" school principal Mukhlis Tanjung said.

Education Minister Bambang Soedibyo said Wednesday the students should suffer the consequences of walking out and not completing their exams. -- JP