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ducation and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim says the cancellation of the national exams caused by the COVID-19 pandemic would not affect graduation or enrollment at the higher levels of education.

Nadiem issued a ministerial regulation on Tuesday prohibiting any form of examination that would require students to gather.

“The cancellation of national exams should not have any effect on the enrollment of new students to junior high school or high school,” he said in a virtual press conference on Tuesday.

The Education and Culture Ministry has ordered schools to determine students’ graduation based on their grades achieved during the past five semesters, with the current semester of their study only an addition to their whole school performance.

The graduation of elementary school students would be based on students’ report cards from fourth grade, fifth grade and the first semester of sixth grade.

Whether junior high students make the grade, meanwhile, depends on their report cards from seventh grade, eighth grade and the first semester of ninth grade. Similarly, high school students’ graduation would be based on their report cards from 10th grade, 11th grade and the first semester of 12th grade.

The grades of the last five semesters would also determine the graduation of vocational high school students, with some additional guidance from students’ portfolios and field practice reports.

Meanwhile, the final exams for junior classes would be replaced by online tests, home assignments and/or decided based on the student's portfolio and school performance.

Nadiem added that, since public school enrollment was mostly based on the zoning system, which requires public schools to prioritize enrollment for students living in the district, the cancellation of exams should not have much of an effect.

“[Enrollment] should [mostly] be determined by area. Merit-based enrolment can be based on two options: The accumulation of students’ grades from the past five semesters or the students’ academic or nonacademic achievements outside their report cards,” he said.

More than 8 million students from 106,000 institutions of education had been registered for national exams this year.

The move to cancel the exams was applauded by National Education Standardization Agency (BSNP) head Abdul Mu'ti, who had sent a letter recommending such a policy to the Education and Culture Ministry on Monday.

Nadiem has announced a plan to abolish the national exam and replace it with a different kind of educational assessment in 2021.

“The cancellation of national exams is part of the social distancing measures in an effort to cut the chain of COVID-19 transmission," presidential spokesperson Fadjroel Rachman said on Tuesday.

Syaiful Huda, chairman of the House of Representatives Commission X overseeing education, said on Monday that “the spread of COVID-19 is expected to occur until April, so it is impossible for us to force students to gather for the national exam under the threat of the pandemic. Therefore, we agreed that the national exam will not be administered”.

Nadiem previously planned to abolish the national exam and replace it with a very different kind of educational assessment for 2021. However, lawmakers were against the idea. In December 2019, the minister explained that the minimum competency assessment referred to a test that would mainly evaluate students’ literacy and numerical competence.

As of Tuesday, Indonesia has reported 686 cases of COVID-19, with 55 deaths. (trn)