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Swamped server system sparks school sorrow
The Jakarta Education Agency admitted that the recent crash in its online enrollment system for high schools and vocational schools was caused by a lack of ability to self-manage the system
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he Jakarta Education Agency admitted that the recent crash in its online enrollment system for high schools and vocational schools was caused by a lack of ability to self-manage the system.
The agency’s head of information and data division, Budi Sulistiono, said the agency started to self-manage the system this year, taking it over from state-owned telecommunications operator PT Telkom that had run it from 2006 to 2009.
Allocating Rp 1.1 billion (US$127,000) for the enrollment application, it controlled the system from its office on Jl. Gatot Subroto, South Jakarta, with the help of seven servers.
“Our servers could not cater to the huge number of users who accessed the website, causing it to crash,” he told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Tuesday.
The servers, each with a capacity of 100 megabytes, failed to manage applications from thousands of students from in and outside the city.
Budi said the agency was overly confident after the success of the online enrollment of junior high and elementary schools a few weeks ago.
“Unlike the senior high school students, the registration system for elementary and junior high schools are mostly accessed by parents and only a few students,” he said.
The online enrollment system for high schools and vocational schools crashed on the first day, forcing students to re-apply this week and delaying the start of new academic year by a week.
To prevent similar system failures, the agency has asked Telkom to operate the re-enrollment this week.
Eddy Kurnia, Telkom’s vice president of Public and Marketing Communication, confirmed the reappointment of the company as a provider for the system.
“We have provided around 30 servers to support the online registration system,” he said over the phone, adding that the company was contacted on July 3.
Budi admitted the agency ran the whole online enrollment system for senior high and vocational schools this year by themselves.
“If we can become independent, why should we be dependent on others?” he said, quoting the country’s first president Sukarno.
Budi’s apparent patriotism did nothing to console parents who have had to re-apply again, starting the registration process from scratch.
“Why don’t they submit the old data we have given rather than force us to come out again and repeat everything all over again?” Adidipura, 50, said, while submitting documents and proceed with the online system for his son in state high school SMA 34 in Cilandak, South Jakarta, on Tuesday.
Many parents also fear that there will be another breakdown in the system.
“I am afraid my daughter will not be placed in a school because of this glitch,” said Widiarti, 43, when the Post met her at state high school SMA 6 in Bulungan, South Jakarta.
