[Kabar-indonesia] Indonesia's Failed Education System

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: Students left in limbo after failing exams

The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006

Opinion

Failed education system

Munasprianto Ramli, Jakarta

The Education Ministry reports that around 9 percent of high school students 
failed the national final examinations. Ironically, some of them had already 
been admitted to universities through special admissions programs for bright 
and talented students. Some disappointed students took to the streets to protest 
the results.

What has happened to our education system? This might be leaning to the 
extreme, but I would have to say that our education system is dying.

Various people could be blamed for this systemic failure; for example, 
teachers, parents, students or the ministry. But is there an underlying problem that 
goes beyond the dysfunction of certain players in the system?

We could easily blame teachers, because they are right on the front lines of 
education. However, this does not make sense. It is actually understandable 
that teachers cannot deliver the curriculum as expected. They lack professional 
training and facilities. Moreover, teachers do not receive enough appreciation 
in the form of financial support and benefits from the government.

Students could also be blamed for failing to perform. But this, too, is 
inappropriate. Their performance depends on wide-ranging factors, including school 
facilities, the quality of the teachers and the content of the curriculum.

There is a long-standing gap between schools in rural areas and those in 
urban areas. City schools generally enjoy luxurious facilities such as libraries, 
science laboratories, language laboratories and computers with Internet 
connections, all of which are absent from schools in rural areas. Facilities at 
country schools are outdated or nonfunctional.

In addition to this conspicuous imbalance, our curriculum is too dense. How 
can we expect the children to perform well under a demanding curriculum if the 
school facilities are insufficient to support their study?

In my opinion, the Education Ministry should be held responsible for the 
failure, and the institution has no choice but to reevaluate the very aim of the 
national exam.

Using national exam results as the only measurement to decide whether 
students graduate or not seems to negate the importance of schooling. It is 
inconceivable and utterly unrealistic that the very success and failure of a student 
over three years of study is determined during a jam-packed schedule of three to 
four days of national examinations.

The ministry has to realize that schooling is not about getting good grades 
on the national exams, but rather, is about the development of students' 
abilities during ordinary school days. Schooling is about introducing students to 
the real world and helping them develop their knowledge. As a result, it's naive 
to judge students' success in education through the results of the national 
exams.

We need the final exams to assess schools' performance, for example, or to 
help universities recruit students. But we cannot use the final exams as the 
single factor that decides students' futures.

I think it is time for the Education Ministry to learn from other parts of 
the world. In the province of Quebec, where I pursued my master's degree, the 
ministry of education stipulates that the results of the national final exams 
account for only 20 percent of a student's total grade.

The students' grades are mostly determined by their daily performance on 
homework, assignments and tests. High school students graduate if their total 
grade on all elements equals at least 60 percent of the maximum 100. So, even if 
students do not perform well on the final exams, they stand a great chance of 
graduating if they do well on their homework, assignments and tests.

Lastly, the national final exam results serve as a warning that not only is 
our education system failing, but the Education Ministry and educators alike 
need to reform the system.

The government faces an uphill challenge to provide better schooling, teacher 
training, facilities and curriculum, as well as to reconsider the national 
exams. We will see whether the ministry itself can pass this test.

The writer is a lecturer at the School of Education and Teacher Training, 
Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic Institute, Jakarta. He obtained a master's 
degree from the Faculty of Education, McGill University, Montreal. 

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The Jakarta Post 
Saturday, July 1, 2006
    
Students left in limbo after failing exams

Slamet Susanto and Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, 
Jakarta/Yogyakarta/Bandarlampung

Thousands of high school students who failed to graduate this year have been 
left in limbo as they will only be able to go on to higher education in 2007.

Unlike previous years, those who failed the 2006 national exams were not 
given a second chance to take a second test in order to graduate and take entrance 
tests at state universities across the country.

Although the government has offered the failed students a Package C test for 
high school level in the literacy program this year, this would still mean 
they will have to wait until next year before they can attend university.

The organizing committee of the state university's entrance exam has ruled 
that all applicants must show their high school diplomas to take the exam.

Eko Budiharjo, a member of the committee organizing the entrance exam for 53 
state universities nationwide, admitted that the Package C diploma would not 
be of any use to the students who failed since it would be too late for them to 
take this year's entrance exam.

"High school graduates must obtain their diploma," he said. "This means those 
planning to take this year's Package C program, which is scheduled for 
August, cannot take the university entrance exam to be held on July 5 and 6."

In 2005, state universities allowed students who failed the national exam, 
which was held last June, to take the university entrance exam a month later.

However, they had to show their academic reports and a letter stating their 
plan to take a second exam that was to be held in August last year.

The Package C test was initially intended for non-formal schooling as the 
certificate is regarded as the equivalent of a high school diploma.

However, this program would not pave the way for the students failing this 
year's exams to take the 2006 university entrance exam scheduled for July 5-6 
because they would not receive their Package C certificates until September.

The Package C test will take place from Aug. 28 to Aug. 31, and the results 
will be announced from Sept. 25 to Sept. 29.

Meanwhile, several universities, which had accepted a number of top-ranking 
students before they failed the national exams, said these students must pass 
the Package C test this year to be allowed to study in the 2006 academic year.

"They are allowed to enroll but must take the Package C test," said Eko, who 
is also the rector of Diponegoro University in Semarang, Central Java. "They 
will not gain admission if they fail the test."

He said that among the 888 students who were already accepted by his 
university based on their academic record, interests and potential, only one failed 
the 2006 national exam.

The University of Lampung also offers the same facility.

"They will lose their place if they fail the Package C test," said Tirza 
Hanum, a deputy rector of the university.

However, Yogyakarta's Gadjah Mada University (UGM) has taken a different 
stance.

The students who were accepted to the university's own entrance test, which 
was held in April, had to start studying next year after they received their 
high school diplomas.

"Those who passed UGM's entrance test are required to submit high school 
diploma during the enrollment period from June 29 to July 4," UGM spokesman Suryo 
Baskoro said.

"There are 16 students who have passed the UGM's entrance test but failed the 
national exams. We will not wait for them to obtain their diploma in August."

More than 170,000 of almost two million high school students failed the 
national exams that took place in May.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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