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Students in Sragen borrow computers from other schools to sit exams
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Tough task: Students of a junior high school in Surakarta, Central Java, sit the computer-based national exam on April 24. (JP/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
T
o sit the computer-based national exam, students from 42 junior high schools (SMP), including Islamic junior high schools or Madrasah Tsanawiyah (MTs), in Sragen, Central Java, have needed to either borrow computers from other schools or sit the exam at different schools.
“The 42 public and private junior high schools do not yet have adequate computer facilities. Moreover, this is the first time they have held computer-based national exams independently,” Sragen Education and Culture Agency head Suwardi said on Tuesday.
The computer-based national exams for junior high school students began on Monday and will last until Thursday.
Some schools have even had to arrange transport for students to and from exam venues, which are quite far from their homes, so that all students can attend the exams on time.
One such school is state junior high school SMP Negeri 1 Ngrampal. Because of its limited number of computers, the school has been forced to hold the exams at vocational school SMK Kosgoro Sragen, which is around three kilometers away.
“We have 19 computers and only 15 work. To hold the computer-based national exam, we need at least 90 computers. Hopefully, we can hold the exams in our own school next year,” SMP Negeri 1 Ngrampal principal Bambang Sudaryono said.
Suwardi said this year, 67 of the total 114 SMP and MTs in Sragen held computer-based national exams. Meanwhile, the 47 other SMP and MTs still held paper- and pencil-based exams. (hol/ebf)
