Thusday, 10 December 09 | 995 hits | send | print We have just heard about the decision of the Supreme Court (MA) which prohibits the National Examination held by Department of National Education on the last 14 September 2009. The national examination appeals filed by the government was rejected by the Supreme Court, the national examination is abolished, in other words, the government is banned to hold the national examination as the only standard for student graduation. In the verdict, the defendants - the President, Vice President, the Minister of National Education, and Chairman of the National Education Standards Agency (BSNP) is considered failed to meet the needs of Human Rights (Human Rights) in education.


The Supreme Court decision is a complaint filed by the Advocacy Team for the Victim National Examination (TEKUN) and Education Forum. This is a new paradigm in the world of law and education in Indonesia, since the lawsuit on national examination is in the form of citizen lawsuit, which is quantitatively very rare applied in Indonesia. The citizen lawsuit is a mechanism for citizens to sue state officials responsible for negligence in fulfilling citizens’ rights. The failure is postulated as an act against the law, so is filed in the scope of the general court – the civil.

The decision apparently does not have any effect for the government. It condition proved with the government that keep conducting the national examination on March and April 2010. In order to realize it, the Minister of Education has issued circular letter on the guideline for the national education 2010. The government claimed that they have not received the copy of the Supreme Court decision therefore they have not bound ethically and morally by the law.

They also claimed that there is a possibility for the government to make appeal therefore the decision of the Supreme Court does not have permanent legal force yet. The last excuse is they believe that there is no prohibition to conduct national examination. The government is only requested to improve the quality of teachers, educational facilities and infrastructure, information systems and taking the psychological effects on students into account.

Considering the above conditions, what are the actual targets of this government wants to achieve with the national examination? As the matter of fact, the government will surely identify some weakness, shortcomings and the unmet target of the national examination if they want to see and listen.

National Examination and Education in Indonesia

The government considered important to conduct the national examination to improve the quality of education. The national examination is viewed as the basis to map the educational situation, such as quality of education in which cannot be separated from the facilities and infrastructure, quality of teachers and so on. Then, ideally, schools with poor educational quality should be given guidance and assistance. Although in a few years implementation of the national examination, there are still many schools with poor quality of education, inadequate number of teachers, human resources, facilities and infrastructure.

The final result of the national examination will be used as the basis for selection into further education does not serve the sense of justice for all students. Some State Universities are opening a special entry point for students with extraordinary achievement – since the 1st grade of senior high school. With the system of national exam, possibly there will be very outstanding students for 3 (three) years but failed in the exam. What would be the assessment related to their achievement for those 3 years? Above all, to be accepted in certain universities, the government has prepared more fair selection for all students without any exception.

Furthermore, it should be noticed that the result of the national exam which is set as the sole instrument for determining the graduation. This is wrong. Many students who do not pass the national examination in the past three years are brilliant students. This is not fair for these students. In the final stage, it would cause severe psychological impact on those who did not graduate. Teacher assessment and education unit do not have effect at all as mandated in article 63 above.

In the end, the school feels responsible for ensuring the graduation of the students in relation to the better school credibility with the high rate of graduation. Often the schools and teachers do any means necessary including cheating to ensure the students pass the national exam. In the end, education in Indonesia that is in the education model which criticized by Paulo Freire as the banking education – the education system which is not critical because is directed to domestication, taming and adjustment of social reality in the oppressed circumstances, will increasingly be in the alarming conditions. Students just like robots, trash and not creative. They only have one target in education – to pass the national exam. The test in the national examination served in multiple choice and switch off the creativity of students since it is full of memorizing (theory) and poor reasoning.

The National Exam and Education Discrimination

UN will be very burdensome for schools located in remote areas, disaster areas, regional conflicts, and poor areas where the quality of the education is still low compared to those in other regions. Poor educational facilities, quality, lack of qualified teachers has resulted in the poor preparedness of the regions to performing the national examination. Moreover, the national examination which has the impression held in rush does provide opportunity for students to prepare themselves better. As a result the national exam tends to discriminate students when it is compared with students from normal areas.

Even if the national exam (has) to be held, so the government should develop a minimum standard for educational services for these areas (although) still refers to the national standard. Based on the implementation of this minimum standard of service standards the national exam should be held. Briefly, with the minimum standard of service, the national exam is carried out with adapted form to the circumstances and the quality of education in the respective regions. Indeed, it will be more just and would not have discriminatory impression.

The improvement of educational quality and standardization as required by the central government to local governments is not easy one. This is certainly due to different resources and resource management capabilities in each region, including in the implementation of the national exam. The government should have thought about means to improve the quality of education in Indonesia, which requires a gradual strategy and without uniformity. The less qualified schools or those in remote areas can be supported assistance for quality improvement - infrastructure and teachers until they are ready for the actual standardization.

Therefore, rather than directly conducting the national exam, firstly, the government should make an evaluation on whether the fulfillment of the standard of the minimum service of education has been implemented in schools – from programs to the quality of teachers. Because when these aspects are not met, then the national exam will discriminate areas with poor access to education.

Closing

Finally, the government should consider the re-organization of the national exam after the Supreme Court decision which is legally formal must be done immediately. By reviewing the national exam which has discriminatory impression, doctrine and blocked students’ creativity, we hope that our education, like Paulo Freire's term, could become a tool for liberating and create space for the children to freely and critically identify and analyze on various social problems, humanitarian, and nationality. What are the objectives? To enable the future generation of this country to articulate the process of social transformation wisely and maturely; free from instant behavior, corrupt, hypocritical, obstinate, and selfish. (*)

By: Eliana - Staff of Information and Advocacy of KKSP Foundation
(The education and Information Center for child Rights)