The National Education Ministry will allow students to take a remedial test in May 2010 if they fail the national exams that are expected to be held March next year.
This year, students failing the exams took an equivalency test, known as the Paket C exams, as the government did not hold remedial tests.
The head of the ministry's research and development division, Mansyur Ramli, on Friday told The Jakarta Post that the ministry would allow high school students to take Paket C exams, and junior high school students would be allowed to sit Paket B exams, if they failed the remedial exams in May.
The Supreme Court announced Monday it had turned down an appeal lodged by the Education Ministry to annul a South Jakarta District Court verdict that found the national exams contradictory to the 2003 Law on the National Education System.
The initial verdict had been made in a civil lawsuit filed by parents of a Jakarta student who failed the 2009 national exams. The exams were widely criticized by students and parents, who said they were poorly organized and had a detrimental impact on students who did not pass.
The ministry also came under fire when it conducted extra exams in more than 30 high schools whose students did not pass after being found to have cheated with incorrect answers.
Despite the verdict, however, the government will go ahead with its plan to hold the 2010 national exams for high schools in March 2010, while waiting for a copy of the verdict, National Eduaction Minister Muhammad Nuh said.
Nuh promised to reform the national examination system, but said this had nothing to do with the verdict.
"The changes are aimed at responding to public complaints on the way the national exams were conducted in the past," he said.
He also said his side was seeking to file a request to the Supreme Court to reopen the case.
"Once we receive a copy of the court's verdict we will file a request to the court to reopen the case," he said.
Separately, education expert Arief Rachman called on the government to streamline the education law and the 2005 regulation on the national exams.
"The law stipulates the evaluation of educational institutions including high schools is based not only on students' scores in certain disciplines, but a comprehensive assessment," he said.
Arief also said the government should determine the main purpose of the national exams.
"The national exams must be halted if they are aimed at measuring the quality of the national education system, because it is different from one region to another for numerous reasons - including poor education facilities and uneven competence of teaching staff.
"If the exams are aimed at measuring graduates' abilities, the evaluation should be conducted by schools rather than the government," he said. (nia)
