Your comments on the announcement by Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan that his ministry would end the widely criticized function of national exams as the sole determining factor of student graduation:

This new government has a vision for the future and is stepping up to the plate. God bless you.

Philippe Marland

Then every institution must take extra efforts to screen every individual before letting them join. It is just as simple as that.

We are free to set our own standard. The market will also be filled with youths from ASEAN countries to compete with. Ready or not, the time surely comes our way!

Eddy Arjuna Zainy

 It is a good move. Because Jokowi'€™s team more or less wants to serve and actually make Indonesia prosper, they see no need to retain the existing system designed to churn out sheep who won'€™t question the corrupt system.  It'€™s in Jokowi'€™s interest to push proper skills-based training.

Atom

Indonesia needs critical thinkers. In the '€œfactory model'€ of education, students are meant to be compliant and basically do '€œas they are told'€.  This is not something that stays only with the child but sticks with them into adulthood as well and it creates '€œyes'€ people who tend to lose all originality.  

We need to have students that are able to ask questions and challenge what they see, but always in a respectful way. I don'€™t think that I have ever heard a teacher say, '€œI can'€™t wait until we get to write report cards!'€  That being said, I think we spend too much time focusing on being able to tell others what our students can do and know and not enough time helping students understand those things themselves.  

Portfolios are a great way to share this knowledge and will actually have students develop their own understanding of what they know.  If you can write in a report card that a student can do something in October, yet they can'€™t do it in January, is that report card still relevant?  

I think that we should spend more time working with students to teach them how to assess themselves and not just do it for them. There is one thing that is important to all of this; that our students are good people.  

One of the things that I have told my students over and over again is that it doesn'€™t matter how smart you are if you are considered a jerk.  

Treat others with kindness and consideration.

Willo

I agree with Minister Anis Baswedan to overhaul the national exams. Isn'€™t it widely criticized especially by parents? Students and teachers face difficulties with the curriculum.

E Nurdin
Jakarta

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Overhauling fuel subsidies

The government introduced on Jan. 2 its new fuel-subsidy scheme, which will significantly cut the fuel-subsidy allocation to Rp 60 trillion (US$4.8 billion) from the original Rp 276 trillion stated in the 2015 state budget. What do you think?

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