Hundreds of junior high school students in North Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, had to sit their computer-based national exams (UNBK) on Monday in temporary buildings after multiple quakes rattled the region last year.

Junior high schools throughout the country are holding the UNBK simultaneously from Monday to Thursday, while elementary schools are holding national exams.

“Out of the 34 junior high schools [in the region] holding the exams this year, up to 10 schools are holding theirs in temporary buildings after quakes destroyed their school buildings last year. However, the exams have, in general, gone well,” North Lombok Education and Cultural Agency head Fauzan told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

Aside from using temporary buildings, some of the junior high schools have also resorted to holding the exams at nearby senior high schools.

According to Fauzan, last year’s earthquakes had ruined 90 percent of all school buildings in the region.

“The Public Works and Housing Ministry and private companies have rebuilt around 75 percent of the schools. Construction for the remainder is underway,” he said.

Despite suggestions from the government for quake-stricken schools to hold paper-based exams, all of the schools in the region managed to provide students with computers, he said.

Students in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, had to deal with a different scenario as 35 of the 99 junior high schools in the region are still using paper and pencils for the exams.

West Lombok administration spokesperson Saeful Ahkam said the schools did not have an adequate number of computers and servers to hold the UNBK.

West Lombok regent Fauzan Khalid acknowledged the lack of supporting facilities for schools in his regency.

“We are working to provide at least 10 percent of the needed facilities next year. We will provide it in stages,” he said, adding that technical and implementation instructions to use the school operational funds (BOS) had limited the provision of computers and servers.

He said that some parents had helped provide laptops for the students.

Some parents in Medan, North Sumatra, have also lent their laptops to students to address a similar issue.

Medan Education and Cultural Agency head Marasutan Siregar said the lack of computers had posed a challenge for some of the 464 junior high schools in the city.

“We will prepare the facilities for next year’s exams,” Medan deputy mayor Dzulmi Eldin said.

In Bangka Belitung Islands, the problem regarding internet infrastructure has pushed 440 students from 12 junior high schools in West Bangka to sit their exams in other schools, Antara reported.

West Bangka Education Agency head Rukiman attributed it to the unstable internet connection in the schools’ area, on top of the schools’ lack of computers.

He said his agency would make efforts to provide the required infrastructure for next year’s exams.

Some schools in Semarang, Central Java have also resorted to “resource sharing” to overcome their problem, said Semarang Education Agency head Gunawan Saptogiri.

He said that by allowing schools to use computers from nearby schools, all of the students could take their exams on computers.

A total of 23,796 students from 217 junior high schools in the city are participating in the exams.

“We have installed 298 servers and 9,601 clients. We also have a help desk team to ensure that the UNBK is going well,” said Sutarto, Semarang Education Agency’s junior high school development division head.

In Kedungkandang district in Malang, East Java, the computer-based exams were disrupted by an electricity blackout for about 20 minutes. Authorities managed to switch to a generator and extended the time for students to finish the exam, as the computers had not saved the already answered questions. (ars)

Aman Rochman in Malang contributed to the story

Popular

Prabowo inaugurates construction of Majapahit palace replica

Indonesia sees hottest April in 40 years

Is Indonesia really ready to embrace dual citizenship?