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ollowing the leaks of exam materials affecting students in two provinces, the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry announced all 35 million exam papers would be destroyed after all junior high school, high school and vocational school examinations had been completed.

Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan said he had issued a new regulation that would mandate the liquidation of all materials, and that those who failed to comply with the regulation would be punished.

'€œStarting this year, all national exam materials must be destroyed immediately or sealed, as they are government documents and must remain secret even though the exams are over,'€ he said at ministry headquarters in Senayan, South Jakarta, over the weekend.

Anies said only individuals authorized by the ministry had the right to store exam materials.

'€œAnyone else found in possession of the materials could be prosecuted,'€ he said.

Meanwhile, Nizam of the ministry'€™s Educational Evaluation Center (Puspendik) told The Jakarta Post that the regulation to destroy national exam materials had been in place for the past few years, but that it had not been strictly enforced.

'€œKeeping the materials for a while after the exam is over is allowed by the ministry'€™s research and development division. However, it is the international standard to withdraw or even destroy test materials after they are done,'€ he said.

Nizam said Puspendik would give regular training to teachers so that they could dispose of old exam materials properly.

This year, the ministry distributed 11,730 exam packages for final-year high school and vocational-school students. Students of high school and vocational high schools sat their final exams last week from Monday to Wednesday.

In spite of measures taken by the ministry to prevent leaks and cheating, 30 packages of exam materials intended for students in Aceh and Yogyakarta were leaked online before the exam.

The National Police are currently investigating the case, while the ministry is awaiting exam results from Aceh and Yogyakarta to be compiled before deciding whether students in the two provinces must retake their exams.

Responding to Anies'€™ decision, secretary-general of the Federations for Indonesian Teachers Association (FSGI), Retno Listyarti, said the move was long-overdue.

'€œThat regulation has been issued for a while, and it stipulates that exam materials must be destroyed within one month after national exams end. However, teachers keep the materials because they claim they can'€™t teach students how to prepare for the national exams without the old materials.'€

The ministry is expected to announce this week the results of the national exam and the integrity index, which measures honesty in the exam.