The Supreme Court has ruled in favor of a citizen lawsuit against the national final exam, upholding a high court’s decision that required the government to withdraw the controversial end-of-study test.
Education Minister Muhammad Nuh, however, said Wednesday the government would challenge the verdict by filing a case review with the Supreme Court.
“Frankly I have not read the copy of the court’s ruling. We have to respect the decision, but we also want others to respect our right to seek legal efforts to defend our cause,” Nuh said as quoted by kompas.com.
The Supreme Court delivered its verdict on Sept. 14, 2009, but was only made public recently.
A Supreme Court’s verdict is legally binding according to the law. A case review shall not prevent the ruling to take effect until the Supreme Court decides whether to accept or turn down the review.
The Central Jakarta District Court said in its verdict issued on May 21, 2007 that the government had failed to protect the rights of citizens who were deprived of a chance to pursue education at a higher level because they did not pass the government-sanctioned national final exam. The court also asked the government to improve teachers’ quality, school facilities and students’ access to information before it could administer a national exam.
The government appealed the ruling at the Jakarta High Court, but to no avail. The provincial court upheld the lower court’s decision in on Dec. 6, 2007.
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