TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Computer-based exams work in Jakarta
Glitch free: Students take the junior high school national examinations using computers at the SMPK Penabur 2 Christian high school in Jakarta on Monday
Change Size
G
span class="inline inline-center">Glitch free: Students take the junior high school national examinations using computers at the SMPK Penabur 2 Christian high school in Jakarta on Monday. The nationwide tests began on Monday. More than 120,000 students from 1,084 junior high schools are taking the exams in Jakarta. JP/Awo
Despite leaks and cheating during the national exam for senior high school students three weeks ago, the exam for junior high students, which kicked off on Monday, ran relatively smoothly, including the pilot project computer-based test (CBT).
Students of SMPK Penabur 2 junior high school in Jakarta ' the only junior high in the province to give the CBT version of the exam ' expressed their satisfaction with the new system.
Brenda Clarissa, 15, said the CBT simplified test taking.
'I just had to click on the right answer. If I wasn't sure of an answer I was able to reanswer with another simple click,' she told The Jakarta Post, adding that the paper-based test (PBT) required her to erase an answer before shading in another.
Ivan Nurdianto said he and his classmates did not experience obstacles while taking the exam as they were familiar with CBTs.
'Our school has an e-learning program that starts in the eighth grade in which we are required to download assignments and exams from our school's website and upload them once we have completed them,' he said.
Jakarta Education Agency head Arie Budiman said recently that 123,963 ninth-grade students from 1,084 schools in Jakarta would sit this year's exam, with only one school giving the CBT.
SMPK Penabur 2 principal Supanna Wirija said his school had passed the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry's verification process before being appointed to give the CBT.
'It is probably because we have the facilities and technical readiness,' he said, adding that the school had provided 105 computers that were used in two testing sessions.
'We have 10 computers on standby in case a replacement is needed,' he said.
Despite the divided sessions, the exam period will be the same as schools giving the PBT as only four subjects are tested in four days.
Antonius Juniadhi, the coordinator of SMPK Penabur 2's IT team, said no technical glitches occurred during Monday's testing.
'We carried out four trials prior to the exam day so both our facilities and technical teams were ready,' he said.
He added that the school had sent a letter to state power company PLN to request stable power during the exam days, although the school had also prepared a generator.
'We asked our Internet provider for extra bandwidth as well,' he said.
Meanwhile, SMP 5 state junior high school in Central Jakarta told the Post that it preferred the conventional PBT.
'Can you imagine if all schools gave the CBT? I believe we'd lose Internet connection instantly. That would be a big problem,' said student Aziza Khoirul Alfiah.
Deputy SMP 5 public relations head Wijayanto PH said that a lack of facilities had impeded the school from giving the CBT.
'If we had the facilities and were asked by the ministry [to give the CBT], we would have definitely complied,' he said.
According to him, the school, which finished in the top three of last year's exam in Central Jakarta, only has 20 computers, not enough to accommodate its 177 students sitting this year's exam.
Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan said during his monitoring of the exam in Surakarta, Central Java, that honesty remained paramount in education.
'The goal of the exam is not only 100 percent graduation rate, but 100 percent honesty. It would be useless to graduate by being dishonest,' Anies said.
In Central Java, 558,109 students sat the exam. Central Java exam committee chairman Tri Handoyo said seven schools in Semarang were giving the CBT in the province.
In North Sumatra, the local ombudsman chapter reported that a number of exam questions had been leaked at SMP 1 state junior high school. An ombudsman official caught students with sheets of paper containing exam answers in the classrooms.
'We will report this finding to the central ombudsman,' Abyadi Siregar, the North Sumatra chapter chairman, said. (prm)
- Ganug Nugroho Adi, Suherdjoko and Apriadi Gunawan contributed to this report from Surakarta, Semarang and Medan, respectively.
