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Thousands of high school students fail repeat exams
Over 2,800 students across Indonesia learned that they will need more than a second chance to graduate high school and pursue higher education
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ver 2,800 students across Indonesia learned that they will need more than a second chance to graduate high school and pursue higher education.
The students come from state and private high schools - and especially Madrasah Aliyah (Islamic high schools).
National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said Monday that 2,856 high school and Madrasah Aliyah students failed a second remedial exam in April after they previously failed national examinations in March.
Nuh said that around a million and a half high school students took the national examinations in 2010: 1,368,929 passed and 153,266 failed.
"Out of the 153,266, 150,410 took the remedial exams and 2,856 did not.
"Out of those who participated *in the remedial exams*, 138,596 passed, while the rest did not," he said in Jakarta.
Over 11,000 students failed the national exams a second time, according to the minister's figures.
National examinations are criticized by some as a source of pressure for students and for imposing a single national educational standard on disparate regions of the country .
The National Education Ministry said that the main purpose of the national exams was to create a mapping scheme for national educational development.
However, opponents of the scheme said that the tests were also a component of student graduation requirements.
Nuh said that the total number of students who failed this year, including those who failed in the first exam and those who chose not to take remedial tests, was 14,670.
That figure was 0.96 percent of the total number of students who participated in the national exams in 2010, he said.
"I think *the 0.96 percent* is the part that should be improved," Nuh added.
Head of the National Education Ministry's research and development division Mansyur Ramli said that there were several reasons why almost 15,000 students chose not to take the remedial tests.
"Some of them moved *to other schools*, some of them chose to work and so on," he said.
Nuh said that there were a number of options for those who failed a second time.
"They can take the Paket C *test*, or they can register as a student for the 2010-2011 academic year. They can rest and wait until next year to take the national examinations *again* or they can work - but we do not recommend that they get married," he said.
None of Indonesia's 33 provinces posted a 100-percent success rate.
"What is surprising is the 21.47-percent failure rate for remedial tests in Yogyakarta," Nuh said.
Dubbed the "city of students", Yogyakarta previously posted a 23.7-percent failure rate for the national examinations. After the remedial tests, Yogyakarta had the second highest percentage of unsuccessful students, ranked just ahead of East Nusa Tenggara.
Fasli Jalal, the deputy education minister, said that eight schools posted a 100-percent failure rate on the remedial tests. As many as 67 students from those schools participated in the exams.
The ministry appeared satisfied with the exam results and processes, despite the failure rate.
"*This year's exams* proved that the remedial tests play a very large role in reducing tension *among students*," Nuh said.
This is the first year that the government has offered remedial tests.
