More than 560 junior high schools in Indonesia saw none of their students through this year’s national examinations, meaning all of these students must sit remedial exams should they wish to graduate, the government says.
The remedial exams would be held from May 17 to 20, National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said Thursday in Jakarta.
The subject most students failed was English. Other subjects tested were Indonesian, science and mathematics.
The head of the ministry’s research and development division, Mansyur Ramli, said 43,666 schools took part in the exams. However, in 1.31 percent of these schools no students passed the exams in the first round.
Around 3.6 million junior high students had sat the exams and 3.2 million or 90.27 percent of them passed, Nuh said.
Among the more than 300,000 who did not pass, almost 10,000 students were from the 561 schools that saw no students pass at all.
“Last year 95.09 percent of [junior high] students passed, while this year it’s 90.27 percent,” Nuh said, adding that the decline was a natural occurrence.
“Fluctuations happen … The results of analysis [of the decrease] are quite varied. What’s important is how we can strengthen schools,” he said.
The province posting the largest percentage of junior high school students taking remedial exams is East Nusa Tenggara, with 39.87 percent, followed by Gorontalo with 38.80 percent.
Bali posted 1.4 percent — making it the province with the lowest percentage of students taking remedial exams.
“And to think you only have to cross the waters,” Nuh said, referring to the proximity of Bali and East Nusa Tenggara.
The results saw two students with the best marks from unexpected regions, he added.
“There is an interesting fact here. Students who scored the highest marks came from regions that are not the capital of their provinces,” he said.
There is a notion that capital cities have better infrastructure, and hence were at an advantage in facing the exams.
The highest marks were grabbed by students in Kebumen and Karanganyar, Central Java.
The average result for junior high school students in this year’s national exams was 7.21, Mansyur said.
“It is pretty good. Our national target according to the strategic plan was 7.0,” he said.
Last month, the ministry announced that more than 150,000 of the 1.5 million participants in the national examinations for high schools and Islamic high schools had to take remedial exams, while at 267 schools no students passed on their first shot at the exams.
