Senin, 08 Agustus 2016

Is National Exam The Best Way To Determine Graduation?

  


    Indonesia National Exam is one of the methods that need to be passed through by the last semester students in Indonesia. This test which is a standard evaluation system of primary and secondary education in Indonesia which tries to equate the quality of education levels  is held annually, usually between March  and May.  
So is this year, the National Exam is held for SMA (senior high school) and SMP (junior high school) students while for SD (elementary) students it will be held in the beginning of May. During the past years, National Exam was held successfully, without any serious problems. But it doesn’t seem so in this year. In 2013, the implementation of the National Exam seemed very disorganized, screwed, and was probably the worst ever. Vice chief of Commission 10 of Indonesian Parliament, Syamsul, even stated in okezone.com, that the implementation of National Exam in 2013 was a total failure. Why did this happen? The failure of National Exam (UN) in 2013 was caused by three reasons.

    First, the failure of National Exam (UN) in 2013 was caused by the Government’s selfishness. The government forces themselves to make twenty packages of questions. So, everyone in one class will receive different questions from the other. In 2013  National Exam, there were only five packages of questions  compared to the previous years with only about two or three packages of questions, which is the first time in Indonesian history. Well, it’s a development, though, but if the Government isn’t ready for it, then they shouldn’t. The impact is the questions and the answers are not synchronized and seems perfunctory. It’s very unfair for a student who knows the right answers but forced to choose the wrong answers because there’s no right ones. Moreover, the Government also makes questions with a high level of difficulty, while the standard of education in each school is not necessarily equal. Once again, it’s very unfair. We all know that the Government is trying to develop the education quality in Indonesia.But let’s sit and muse for a moment. Like in the remote areas of Indonesia, the schools’ standard in those areas is very low, because of the shortage of teachers and educational materials. What if they encounter a very difficult exam, while they are actually still in below the required standard? The Government should think about this before they impose their desire.

    Second, the failure of National Exam (UN) 2013 was caused by the Government’s lack of preparation. You must have known about the delay of National Exam in eleven provinces in Indonesia, right? It was a hot issue for days. Again, this is the first time in Indonesian history. This was a serious problem because the Government had broken the rules they made. It is said that the implementation of the National Exam should be carried out at the same time and the same date in Indonesia. But what’s the fact? In eleven provinces, which consist of South Sulawesi, Bali, Gorontalo, West Nusa Tenggara, South Kalimantan, East Nusa Tenggara, East Kalimantan, North Sulawesi, South East Sulawesi, West Sulawesi, and Central Sulawesi, the National Exam was held on April 18, 2013. In the meantime, the actual date was on April 15, 2013. Why did this delay happen? The Minister of Education, Muhammad Nuh stated, that it was because of some technical errors, especially in distributing the questions packages to the East region of Indonesia. And why were these packages shipped late? Back to previous, because of the Government’s lack of preparation. They sent the original documents to the printing companies just 25 days before the D-day. It should’ve been sent at least 60 days or more before the D-day, to prevent the worst possibilities. This is very embarrassing, disgraceful, and very inappropriate. The Government should take responsibility, not only an apology, regarding this serious problem.

    Last, the failure of National Exam (UN) 2013 was caused by terrible management by the Ministry of Education. As the writer experiences it, this was the worst management of National Exam ever. Why? There were so many technical errors. There was a case on the second day of the physics exam. When the questions sheets were distributed, one student checked it. But it was a lame, lack of numbers of questions. So she exchanged the sheet, which meant that she must exchange the answer sheet too because the questions and the answer sheets were attached together. When she got the new sheets, she found out that the answer sheet was faded. She got panic, but the supervisor said it was okay. And this bad thing also happened to her friend. He had already answered about half of the whole questions, but then the answer sheet was ripped. So, he was forced to exchange the answer sheet, which meant that he had to exchange the question sheet too. And he was working on it from the very beginning, without the time extension. And there were many more technical errors, such as the one that happened in Garut, West Java. The students got the wrong package of questions. They got the English sheets, while that day, the subject was Bahasa. Another error that always happens every year, is the leakage of answer key. This is not the new thing, and it frequently happens in some areas of our beloved country. Apparently, the culture of cheating during the test has become epidemic. Sadly, the Indonesian government never seems to alleviate this problem successfully. 

    In brief, the Government should take responsibility for this catastrophe. The failure of National Exam in 2013 should become a lesson for the future. Instead, if needed, just remove the National Exam because it’s very unfair if the graduation depends on the National Exam. In addition, it is very unfair if students have to study for three years, but determined only by four days to pass? It would be better if the graduation is determined by education standardization, like in the USA. Of course, the students will not be depressed, and they will not cheat anymore. Go Indonesian education!


By Shofia Hanifa

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