Reality check for high school graduates

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 08/04/2007 12:36 PM

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

University entrance test results were announced on Thursday evening across the country via SMS and the internet, but many students said Friday they would still use a newspaper to ensure their results were right.

Delse M. Asmarini, a graduate of state-run senior high school SMAN 2 Padang in West Sumatra, said her friends learned of their results on Thursday night by visiting an internet kiosk or receiving an SMS message.

""But we have come here just to be sure that we really did fail,"" said Delse, as she read a local newspaper outside Padang State university campus on Friday.

Delse said she had seen the website and had received an SMS but she was still not satisfied.

None-the-less, she found she had not been accepted to Andalas University's School of Management and Pharmacy or to Padang State University's English Department.

""I'm disappointed, but I won't take another exam next year. I'd rather attend private university,"" Delse said.

Another high school graduate, Elantika Utami, arrived with her mother Gustina to check her results.

""Thank God, I've been accepted at Andalas University School of Law,"" said the graduate of SMA PGRI 1 Padang.

High school graduate Sutrimas was accepted at Medan State University in North Sumatra, but he was also unhappy.

""My target was to attend North Sumatra University, which was my first choice during the entrance test,"" 18-year-old Sutrimas said.

""But I got accepted at my second choice.""

Sutrimas is a graduate of SMU St. Thomas Binjai and said he would ""just have to accept his fate and study accounting"".

Disappointed students were not the only ones licking their wounds on results day, however, with newspaper stockists feeling the competition more than ever from telcos and the internet.

""Last year I sold 125 copies just in three hours, but now it's been five hours and I've sold only 60 copies,"" said Noviandi, a trader at Padang State University.

This year, 26,347 graduates took the test in Padang.

Some were vying for 4,439 seats at Andalas and Padang State University.

Across the country, 393,168 students took part in the three-day test last month, vying for 96,066 seats at state universities across the country.

Compared to last year, more students were accepted through the university entrance tests at Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta.

The university received 1,534 from the 15,227 students who took the test this year.

""Last year, we only received 959 out of 9,291 students taking the tests,"" said one of UGM's academic administrators, Agus Wiranta.

But other universities could not fill their quota.

At Mulawarman University in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, 2,240 students passed the tests, but the university can provide 2,935 places.

The gap was blamed on a lack of interest in studying agriculture, forestry and fishery.

According to the university's data, only 64 graduates enrolled at the school of agriculture, which has 315 seats; while 20 and 30 graduates registered at the schools of forestry and fishery respectively.

Head of the university's entrance test committee, Maman Sutisna, said the lack of interest in all three subjects was because students thought there was no future in studying the land or the sea.

""Students now are reluctant to work on muddy fields, like going to rice fields or ponds,"" Maman said.

""They want to work in an office.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |