The national examinations for senior high school students concluded on Friday with much less controversy than last year but with one casualty.
Mansyur Ramli, the National Education Ministry’s head of research and development, said at a news conference that despite some obstacles, the number of irregularities during the exams had been reduced significantly and improvements were apparent compared to last year, especially in the supervision of tests.
Djaali, a member of the National Education Standardization Agency (BSNP), said the irregulariteis were mostly the work of “external parties who wanted to cause havoc by distributing leaked answers,” which turned out to be wrong.
The ministry announced that a number of students in four schools would have to retake their exams following reported violations.
Sukemi, a member of the ministry’s special staff, said students at two schools in North Sumatra would have to retake their tests in Bahasa Indonesia, sociology and biology on April 5 after reports of cheating.
Sukemi added that tourism students at a school in Singaraja, Bali, and a school in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, would have to retake part of their exams on March 31 after a test paper on technology and accounting meant for vocational school students was sent instead of the expected mathematics test.
Sukemi underlined that the incident at the schools in Bali and West Lombok did not involve cheating but was a simple error on the part of administrators.
In North Sumatra, students were caught with leaked exam answers written in cellphone text messages.
Mansyur said that the students caught with the answers were only “users,” while the real perpetrators were those involved in leaking the answers, allegedly staff members from companies contracted to print the exam papers.
“They will have to face legal charges for leaking state secrets,” he said.
In Cilacap, Central Java, a student at Budi Utomo Vocational School collapsed just before the end of her math exam on Thursday.
State news agency Antara reported that the student, identified as Nurhayati, lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead. It is believed she fasted during exam week and stayed up late studying for the tests.
Mansyur Ramli, the National Education Ministry’s head of research and development, said at a news conference that despite some obstacles, the number of irregularities during the exams had been reduced significantly and improvements were apparent compared to last year, especially in the supervision of tests.
Djaali, a member of the National Education Standardization Agency (BSNP), said the irregulariteis were mostly the work of “external parties who wanted to cause havoc by distributing leaked answers,” which turned out to be wrong.
The ministry announced that a number of students in four schools would have to retake their exams following reported violations.
Sukemi, a member of the ministry’s special staff, said students at two schools in North Sumatra would have to retake their tests in Bahasa Indonesia, sociology and biology on April 5 after reports of cheating.
Sukemi added that tourism students at a school in Singaraja, Bali, and a school in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, would have to retake part of their exams on March 31 after a test paper on technology and accounting meant for vocational school students was sent instead of the expected mathematics test.
Sukemi underlined that the incident at the schools in Bali and West Lombok did not involve cheating but was a simple error on the part of administrators.
In North Sumatra, students were caught with leaked exam answers written in cellphone text messages.
Mansyur said that the students caught with the answers were only “users,” while the real perpetrators were those involved in leaking the answers, allegedly staff members from companies contracted to print the exam papers.
“They will have to face legal charges for leaking state secrets,” he said.
In Cilacap, Central Java, a student at Budi Utomo Vocational School collapsed just before the end of her math exam on Thursday.
State news agency Antara reported that the student, identified as Nurhayati, lost consciousness and was later pronounced dead. It is believed she fasted during exam week and stayed up late studying for the tests.
