T

he first day of the national exams for senior high school students in a number of regions in Riau on Monday proceeded in an orderly manner despite a shortage of exam papers and computerized answer sheets.

In Indragiri Hulu regency, Riau, seven senior high schools and four vocational schools faced a lack of exam papers for several subjects.

A shortage of exam papers for the Indonesian language was experienced at SMK Tri Bakti Sarimas vocational school in Kuantan Sengingi regency. To resolve the problem, the local national exam committee and education office sourced exam papers from other vocational schools.

In Rokan Hilir, the local national exam committee was short of 12 exam papers and answer sheets for mathematics to be used on the second day of the exams.

'€œToday, everything went smoothly, but we cannot guarantee that will be the case tomorrow. We have reported the shortage of exam papers and answer sheets. We were told that we would get them today from the provincial education office,'€ said Rokan Hulu Education Agency head Muhammad Zen.

A shortage of exam papers was also experienced in Indragiri Hilir, Siak and Kampar.

The Riau senior high school and equivalent level national exam committee head and Riau Education Agency secretary, Abdul Kadir, said exam papers and answer sheets were being sent to regions experiencing shortages.

'€œSo far, everything has been overcome. We have covered the shortages and I'€™m sure the exam papers will reach the designated areas in time,'€ said Abdul.

'€œThe shortages are mostly for the second and third day of the exams, such as for sociology and economics. There'€™s still time to distribute them. The local exam committees can use other schools'€™ excess exam papers,'€ he added.

In Gorontalo, three senior high schools in the province also faced a shortage of papers for the Indonesian language test on the first day of the exam.

Gorontalo Education, Youth and Sports Agency head Sumarwoto told The Jakarta Post that the three schools were SMA Paguat in Pohuwato regency, which lacked 21 exam papers, Model Islamic senior high school in Gorontalo city (20 exam papers) and SMA 1 Kwandang, North Gorontalo (105).

Students at the latter school, he said, were unable to take the exam until the test papers arrived from the printers in Surabaya, East Java.

Students at the other two schools took the exam after the local exam committee fetched extra test papers from a nearby school.

Sumarwoto said he could not guarantee that there would be sufficient exam papers for the next day.

In Semarang, Central Java, rumors circulated about the availability of leaked exam papers for six subjects and about answer sheets being offered to students through text messages.

Many students appeared not to believe the rumors, but some responded seriously and were prepared to pool their resources and buy the answer sheets. The answer sheets were offered at Rp 10 million (US$874), but other text messages apparently offered them for Rp 30,000.

SMA Don Bosco school principal Agustinus Giwal Santoso told students not to believe the rumors.

'€œWe have advised our students and prepared them with trial exams and gave exam fees to needy students. We asked them to take the exam honestly and with confidence,'€ said Santoso.

Suherdjoko also contributed to the story from Semarang.