Government insists exam must stay

National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh says the government will seek for a case review against a ruling by the Supreme Court, which requires that the government revoke the controversial national final exam.

The Supreme Court delivered its verdict on Sept. 14, 2009, in favor of a civilian lawsuit, but the verdict was only made public on Tuesday.

Nuh said the government would appeal the verdict.

“We have to respect the decision, but also want others to respect our right to seek legal efforts to defend our cause,” Nuh was quoted as saying by kompas.com.

Head of the National Education Standard Agency (BNSP), Mungin Eddy Wibowo, said in Semarang that the government would keep organizing the final exam in 2010 despite the court’s ruling, Antara reported.

“There has been prevalent fraud in the implementation of the national exam, but we conduct evaluations and improvements every year.”

Echoing the views of advocates of the national exams, Mungin said  the results of the exams, as long as they were organized “objectively, transparently and accountably”, are still needed to measure the quality of education and to determine students’ eligibility to graduate and continue their studies at university.

Those against the national exam cite the disparities educations across the country, arguing instead for local level exams.

The lawsuit against the national exam was filed last year by the Advocacy Team for National Exam Victims and the Education Forum.

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 government’s appeal at the Jakarta High Court was rejected. The provincial court upheld the lower court’s decision on Dec. 6, 2007.