Minister to carry out national exam next year

Jakarta: Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh said that his office will continue to carry out the 2012 National Examination (UN), despite question marks over its legality.

“The debate has been settled, and the exam is now halal [legal],” he said on Wednesday at the ministry’s office in Jakarta as quoted by kompas.com.

Many assert that the implementation of the national examination was damaged by fraud and cheating as well as by those who opposed the exam, preferring instead local-level exams.

He said the main concern regarding the UN was not whether it would be held, but how to improve the examination mechanism.

He added that there should be several focus areas for improvement, including the secrecy of examination scripts, the accuracy of scripts’ numbers, timing and distribution as well as its evaluation system.

Nuh then promised to improve the evaluation system by eradicating any manipulation of results.

The senior high school examination will be held on April 16-19, the junior high exam on April 23-26, and the elementary school exam on May 14-16.

Examination results will be announced on May 24 (senior high) and June 2 (junior high), while results for elementary schools will be announced according to each province’s policy.