Should we turn a blind eye to dishonesty in schools?

Bambang Nurbianto ,  JAKARTA   |  Sat, 06/13/2009 10:40 AM  |  Opinion

The failure of the National Examinations at dozens of senior high schools is an indication that there is something wrong in the organization of the final exams – the results of which are a prerequisite for students to continue their education at a higher level.

The public, meanwhile, complains about rampant systematic cheating, involving teachers and principals as well as officials at local education agencies, during the annual final examination.

Education Minister Bambang Soedibyo cited the modi operandi of cheating, which included the delivery of answers via cell phone’s short message service (SMS) and delivery of question papers as well as answer sheets before the exams were held. The minister admitted cheating was the reason why the government would have to repeat the exams in 36 junior and senior high schools across the country.

The question is why did the minister wait so long to admit that such systematic cheating has been practiced for years? Why did he ignore media reports of such cheating in the past?

Many, however, suspect that cheating is not the reason for the repeat exams, but actual failure of the exams in dozens of schools, as previously reported by the media. The National Education Standardization Agency (BSPN), which administers the exams, has denied the media reports.

In Tangerang, Banten, there are students who have testified that they had received the answers from their teachers before participating in the last year’s exams. It is no wonder that the students, who did not perform well in their classes, achieved good grades during the final tests.

As a result, many of clever but honest students failed to enter public schools, as the present system is based on the national examination scores (NEM), while the seats have been filled by average, or even poor, but dishonest students.

In response, a senior high school in Tangerang has planned not to use the NEM to recruit new students this academic year upon learning of the poor performance of their students, who were recruited last year based on their NEM.

How could this cheating have happened? Good performance in the national examinations is considered prestigious by education and government officials in provinces, regencies, cities, as well as schools. Unfortunately, they will do anything, at any cost, to ensure that the students within their jurisdiction give the right answers.

We may still remember the measures taken by Mayor Mochtar Muhamad, who threatened principals in the Bekasi mayoralty, West Java, that they may lose their jobs if their schools did not perform well during last year’s national examinations.

We may also still remember when teachers in West Sumatra were involved in a dispute with their principals when they reported cheating in their school during the examinations last year.

Only recently, dozens of principals, teachers and officials in the Bengkulu provincial education agency were arrested for allegedly stealing exam papers.

Therefore, we really hope that those in charge at the Ministry of Education, including Minister Bambang Soedibyo, will no longer turn a blind eye to all the problems surrounding the organization of the national examinations. They have to listen to public opinion and criticism, which mostly have proved valid.

The ministry’s ambition to establish a national education standard is understandable. But it is unfair to impose the same standard set for schools in urban areas, like Jakarta, which have much better education infrastructure, on schools in remote areas with minimum or poor education infrastructure.

Instead, the ministry must find ways to improve the quality of education infrastructure as well as the teaching and learning process in remote areas, rather than forcing students to undergo the universally set tests if the ministry wishes to upgrade the quality of education there.

Before such schools are required to take part in national examinations, they have to have their own regional exams with their own standards. Taking part in the national exams should be voluntary, not obligatory; it means that only regions or schools, which have expressed their readiness, will take part.

The ministry does not need to use the national exam results as a requirement for the students to continue their studies at the higher levels because it is unfair if the students’ performance during their six-year study at elementary school level and their three-year study for junior and senior high school are decided in just the few days of the exam period. In addition, each student has his or her own talent, for example, those who are good at languages may be not good at mathematics.

It seems Minister Bambang Soedibyo should keep his ambition to use the exam scores of senior high school students as a prerequisite to enroll at state universities because there are many other ways to improve the quality of the exams.

It would be better if the minister dared to suspend the implementation of the national examinations until his ministry was able to solve all the problems, particularly the systematic cheating.

I think we all agree that we have to stop the systematic practice of dishonesty in schools if we really expect better morality of our young generation.   

The writer is a journalist at The Jakarta Post.

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