I still remember my son gathering with friends in the school’s auditorium, holding a white envelope in their hands and quickly opening it after the headmaster told them to. He showed me a small piece of paper which read: “Lulus” (pass).
He smiled widely and cheered with his friends. And I gathered with all the mothers, hugging each other in relief as our children had finally graduated from elementary school. Our feelings represented those of parents nationwide. Finally, the kids had passed the do-or-die test.
The final national school exams have become a controversial since the National Education Ministry imposed them a few years ago. The government argued that the national test should serve as the benchmark to monitor the quality of the national education program.
“Six years of studying a dozen subjects and our children’s future is decided by only three subjects [Mathematics, English and Indonesian]. Three!” a friend yelled, expressing her frustration.
Months before the announcement, mothers at my son’s school had sent their children to after-school courses in a bid to drill kids in questions that might come up in the exam. Gossiping or shopping no longer colored the gathering of mothers. The single topic of conversation was the preparations for the national test. All the stress and frustration paid off when the headmaster announced that all students had passed and would graduate.
If you go to bookstores these days, you will see stacks of “guidelines” containing tips on how to deal with national tests for elementary, junior and high school levels. You can pick a comprehensive book containing questions from different subjects or those on one subject alone.
This year, 12th graders face their national final exam in March. Nothing will change, despite a verdict by the Supreme Court ordering the government to revoke the controversial final exams and improve the quality of education nationwide.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has already backed the exam, National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said. “The national exams are part of the country’s evaluation system, which is part of the studying and teaching process,” Nuh said last Friday.
The ministry has argued that the national final text is aimed at, especially, setting a standardized education quality for the future as well as to improve the quality of the education program nationwide. Unfortunately, such good intentions have been lacking on the implementation side.
How can the ministry give the same questions to students all over Indonesia, whose schools, teachers and education processes differ from one another?
My mother-in-law served as an elementary school teacher in Ambarawa, Central Java, for 40 years, but she couldn’t even teach my daughter mathematics because the substance of today’s textbooks is completely different to those from her time. Adding to her confusion is that my daughter is taught mathematics in English, instead of Indonesian. And this is only in Java.
What happens in other more remote areas? As it is named the national examinations, there should be uniformity and standardization across the nation. But should education neglect the local potential of each area? As an archipelago with more than 17,000 islands, Indonesia has different ethnic groups that are too rich and too diverse to be unified.
Another question often raised is: What happens to children who cannot excel in maths, science, English and other subjects tested in the exam? Is it fair to “judge” children with only several subjects?
What if the child’s talents are in arts or sports?
I believe the government has good intentions in aiming to improve the quality of education, but it has to show its commitment by improving infrastructure, the quality of teachers and teaching methods.
All parents want the best for their children. Indonesia’s education icon and first education minister Ki Hadjar Dewantara said education is about “educating the head, the heart, and the hands”.
Should we follow his philosophy, I hope we can see our children grow up to become persons with integrity and conscience. And that is the hope of all parents.
