S

enior high school students in Jakarta buried their heads in the National Final Exam (UN) Monday, working harder than their predecessors to graduate, as the government increased the passing grade this year.

Students who take the final exam must achieve an average score of at least 5.5 to pass the exams, up by 0.25 compared to last year's passing grade. A low score of 4.00 is acceptable only in two subjects at the most, while students must score higher than 4.25 on the remaining subjects.

More than 120,000 of Indonesia's 2.2 million high school students were high school senior students from 1,139 schools in Jakarta, Jakarta Education Agency head Taufik Yudi Mulyanto reported Monday.

Of those 120,000 students, close to 58,000 were high school students, while around 58,000 students were from vocational high schools, more than 4,000 were from Islamic schools and around 120 were students with special needs.

Jakarta Governor Fauzi Bowo, inspecting the first day of exams in high schools in North Jakarta, assured no exam papers had been leaked.

Fauzi, accompanied by North Jakarta Mayor Bambang Sugiyono visited SMAN 73 high school and SMK 4 vocational school in Cilincing, as well as Madrasah Aliyah Negeri 5 Islamic high school in Marunda.

"Overall, the start of the UN ran smoothly. Hopefully this will last until the UN ends. The students looked calm when sitting the exam," Fauzi said.

Jakarta Education Agency deputy head Kamaluddin said police were monitoring the UN to make sure there were no exam leaks.

National Education Standard Agency (BSNP) member Seto Mulyadi said this year's higher passing grade would not impact the graduation rate in Jakarta.

*'I think Jakartan students will have any problems getting grades of 5.5 or higher. Maybe in areas outside Jakarta, such as Papua and other remote areas, students may find it more difficult to get those scores," he said.

"However, if a country wants to progress, its educational standard should be increased," Seto Mulyadi.

Education experts have criticized the UN since its introduction in 2005. The national exam treats city and rural students equally, which experts say is unfair.