In Medan, North Sumatra, a team from Air Mata Guru Committee teachers’ community disclosed cheating practices related to the test, which runs until Friday, were found in almost 90 percent of 291 schools.

“Schools were distributing answers to students before they took the test,” investigative team leader Abdi Muskarya Saragih told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Abdi said a team member got the answers for a test through a text message from a student before the test. But he declined to mention the student’s name or school.

“It would be unethical,” he said while showing the text message.

Team member Rinaldi was able to buy test papers for three subjects at Rp 600,000 a day before the test.

The findings were reported to Deputy National Education Minister Fasli Djalal on Sunday night.

Abdi said they set up the team to encourage the government to cancel the exam due to rampant cheating practices each year.

Responding to the allegation, head of Medan Education Office Hasan Basri said it was not true.
“On indications of cheating practices, we found nothing so far. We hope the test runs smoothly.”

Student Sasmita Adriani Solin said she would be really disappointed if schools were involved in cheating practices as they should be pushing students to study hard.

“What’s the point of studying if other students get tips for the answers? It’s the same as lying,” said the student of state-run Madrasah Aliyah Sidikalang Islamic senior high school in Dairi regency.
Sasmita was concerned by ongoing rumors on traded test’s papers and tips on the test’s answers.

“I’m worried I’ll fail the test. If it happens, I won’t get a place at North Sumatra University,” said Sasmita, who was nominated by her school for the university’s nurse school.

In Central Java towns of Kudus and Brebes, text messages containing answers to the exam were reportedly circulated among students.

Head of the provincial Education Agency Kunto Nugroho and caretaker of the exam surveillance Fathur Rokhman denied the allegations, saying there was no proof.

In East Nusa Tenggara, students reportedly could not sit the exam due to pregnancy outside wedlock.

Head of the province’s Education and Culture Agency, Thobias Uly, said the office was still gathering the exact number but estimated there were dozens of students in 21 cities and regencies. He did not explain the decision, only saying their fate would be determined later.

In Padang, West Sumatra, many students took their test in makeshift classrooms although 864 classrooms at the senior high schools in the region were devastated by the Sept. 30, 2009 earthquake.

“Only few have to have the exams at semi-permanent rooms at their respective schools,” head of the provincial Education Agency Burhasman Boer said Monday.

In Bandung, West Java, an independent monitoring committee reportedly found a violation against the exam regulation, with Indonesian language teachers assigned to monitor the test for the subject in at least three schools.

In Bali and Yogyakarta, packages of the exam papers for the tested Bahasa Indonesia subject were found incomplete at some schools.

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