Thursday, November 26, 2009

The Supreme Court Bans National Exam

On 24 November, the Supreme Court announced a verdict which rules that the government cannot administer National Schools Examination anymore unless the quality of education has been improved.

The verdict, passed on 24 September, instructed the government to improve teaching standards and school facilities, as well as to provide all students nationwide with equal and full access to information, before it could conduct national exams.

The case itself began in 2007 when a group of students' parents filed a lawsuit with the District Court of Central Jakarta requesting for the prohibition of national examinations at Junior and Senior High Schools.
The lawsuit accused the state of denying the students the right to an education because they were unable to attend university after failing the national exam. It also said the exam was unfair because education standards were not uniform across the country. Besides, although the students study 13 subjects in all, only three of them — Mathematics, Indonesian and English — are tested during the exam.

For detailed media reports, please click here and here.

I hope that the Supreme Court's verdict would persuade the government, especially the Department of Education, to make its best efforts improve the education system in Indonesia.

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