New minister to overhaul national exams

The Jakarta Post ,  Jakarta   |  Sat, 11/07/2009 1:02 PM  |  National

National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh has pledged to make the national exams more accountable, in a bid to use them to replace the current student selection mechanisms used by state universities.

High school students' national exams scores should be used by state universities to select prospective students, Nuh said Friday.

"Junior high schools assess elementary school students' skills and knowledge based on their results in the national exams; high schools do the same with junior high school students," he said.

"So why don't universities do the same as high schools?"

Nuh had previously said the policy would mean less money would be needed for state university entrance exams.

To ensure the accountability of the national exams, the former communications and information minister said he would first improve the quality of the exams themselves.

He would also make sure no students could get copies of the exam papers before the exam date, or cheat in the exams.

"We will improve the management of the national exams, from the printing of the papers and distribution to the supervising in classes," he said.

Nuh also said he would make sure the assessment process ran smoothly.

"I have spoken with the rectors of several state universities and they agree with this idea, and said they would help make it happen," he said.

The changes are part of the minister's 100-day program, which also includes the provision of scholarships to 20,000 high school graduates throughout the country.

Nuh said his programs had begun on Nov. 1 and were expected to complete by January.

He is also working to get 17,500 schools connected to the Internet.

At present, just over 3 percent of the 145,805 elementary schools across the country are online.

Meanwhile, around 17 percent of the 26,277 junior high schools and 32.8 percent of the 10,239 high schools have access to the Internet.

The ministry is targeting to increase these figures to around 4.5 percent, 24 percent and 47 percent, respectively.

Another of Nuh's 100-day programs is a series of capacity-building workshops for school principals.

Principals' performance has a huge impact on student achievements, Nuh said.

"That is why we feel there is a strong need to improve the our principals' skills," he said.

"I am targeting to see 30,000 principals undergo training formulated by the ministry."

Nuh said he would also issue a special policy for teachers working in remote areas.

"Teachers in remote and border areas face many challenges every day," he said.

"We need to introduce a special policy for these teachers."

He said 66 percent of schools in remote areas suffered from a lack of teachers, while only 17 percent of schools had more teachers than they needed.

In urban areas, 68 percent of schools have more teachers than they need, and only 21 percent lack teachers.

"We will use this mapping of teachers to provide incentives for those working in remote areas," he said. (adh)

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