The Importance of National Exam

by: Yessica Gloria

In the second half of the twentieth century, education has come to be viewed as a key to equality and equity in all societies. It is an essential social-human capital for the advancement of individual and country existences. Based on a recent report from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), that in the global education rankings, Indonesia ranked lower than Malaysia (56) and Brunei Darussalam (43), but higher than some other Southeast Asian countries such as Vietnam (79), the Philippines (82), and Cambodia (103) (The Jakarta Post Daily, May 12, 2008). Therefore, National Exam is carried out by National Education Standard Committee (NESC) as an effort to increase Indonesian rank based on Government Law no.19/ 2005 concerned National Education Standard. Unfortunately, The Education Ministry reported that around 9 percent of High School students failed The National Exam. Ironically, some of them had already been admitted to universities through special admissions programs for bright and talented students. This caused many polemics in Indonesia. Many people started to blame the National Exam levying and want to end it. But actually The National Exam is used to making consideration for certifying completion of secondary education (12^th grade) to enter university, mapping the quality of educational program, revealing the justice in passing the pupils , and motivating the students to study more seriously and harder.

National Exam is a pure examination which is given by government to the pupils. There is no interference from the school directions. The National Exam is levied under government supervision. According to Regulation of National Education Minister no.34 / 2007, National Exam in Indonesia has certain passing grade to be fulfilled. In 2008, the minimum average of scores is 5.25 for all subjects with no score under 4.25. Beside, National Exam matters are made by National Education Standard Committee (NESC) and The Education Assessment Center. These matters are very secret and unpredictable. Then, the observation in test room is conducted by team of National Exam supervisor with pure crossed system between school and Islamic school. So, from the government side, actually The National Exam levying with its all regulations is very efficient in certifying completion of secondary education (12^th grade) to enter university.

The result of National Exam can be a basic material to map whole Indonesian educational quality. We can use various methods to make it such as, collecting the valid and invalid data, using polygon representation based on color as parameter differentiation, computing the average of scores in each district, and so on. This statistics can also help the government in making new policy concerned Indonesian educational. So that our educational system will experience an improvement from year to year.

National Exam had been held in each area in Indonesia. There is a long-standing gap between schools in rural areas and those in urban areas. The Education Ministry always ranks the quality of school in Indonesia every year. All schools in Indonesia have their own predicate according to their ranks. Our government is very fair in making the National Exam. They divide National Exam matters into three groups (A, B, and C). Group A is the lowest, group B is average, and group C is for the school with high predicate. Although the matters are divided into three, the National Exam regulations still have same role in each area. It can reveal the justice in passing pupils nationally.

National Exam results are the only measurement to decide whether students graduate or not. Every student exactly wants to enter the next higher education, but they have to pass National Exam first. Beside, socially, having good scores in National Exam can give the students a good prestige. It brings the students a desire to reach a high score. In other conditions, some institutions using National Exam result as one of terms to enter them. They will of course ashamed to their friends and families if they were failed in National Exam. So directly, National Exam can give a strong motivation to the students to study hard and hard everyday.

In conclusion, National Exam can strengthen our National education quality. Its results present the statistic of our educational grade periodically. It also has a strict regulation which can certify the completion of secondary education. The implementation of National Exam reveals the justice in passing the pupils. It could be an instrument to create a fair competition among students, schools, and provinces. It is also able to motivate the students study more seriously.