Indra Harsaputra and Hyginus Hardoyo, Surabaya/Jakarta – Cheating in exams constitutes a fraudulent action classified as an achievement that is not praiseworthy, like corruption.
Similar to corrupt people who justify any means to become rich, students cheat to get good exam scores.
Cases of cheating in Indonesia occur each year and range from the leaking exam and answer sheets to the circulating of fake exam sheets and can involve not just students, but also those supposed to monitor the exams.
Incidents of cheating in exams are frequently publicized, but perpetrators are rarely punished, rendering this behavior normal and widely accepted.
Such acceptance is reflected in the criticism leveled at "Sia", the parent of an elementary school student in Surabaya, East Java, who recently reported cheating committed by the school resulting in the dismissal of the headmaster and two members of the teaching staff.
The parents of hundreds of other students staged a rally in front of Sia's home (not his real name), cursing him and demanding that he leave the area. Police were deployed to protect Sia's family from the angry mob.
"We are angry at Sia for reporting the case while in a number of regions in Indonesia, cheating is common practice," Yati Oktafiana, one of the protesting parents who advocates cheating, told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Sri Wahyuningsih, another parent, said they were angry because Sia did not consider the fate of students who would have failed the exams. "It's embarrassing if my child does not pass the exam. It is better to let him cheat rather than fail," she said.
"I had no intentions to defaming [state elementary school] SDN Gadel 2. I just wanted to teach my kids honesty and to have the education system revamped," Sia told the Post.
Sia spoke to media outlets in Surabaya about the cheating practices committed during the elementary school national exam in May.
In the wake of the reports, the Surabaya mayor deployed an independent team tasked with investigating the case. The team concluded that school officials committed a number of violations to help students pass the exams.
"A student considered smart by the teachers was asked to give the answers to other students as a service to teachers and schoolmates," Daniel Rosyid of the team said.
He added that school officials even held a rehearsal prior to the exams on how to cheat to make sure it would be successful. However, one of the students tasked with giving answers to other students informed his parents.
Based on the team's report, the Surabaya mayor on Tuesday imposed sanctions by dismissing the school headmaster and two teachers from and reducing their allowances.
In April police arrested six exam stand-ins at a private junior high school in Bojonegoro, East Java. The suspects in the case included the school principal.
In Pohuwato regency, Gorontalo, hundreds of students at an Islamic high school sat a makeup physics exam following reports of an intentional leak orchestrated by the school principal.
The Surabaya mayor's team called on the central government to re-evaluate the national exam system. "The community is sick but they are also victims of the central government's policy," Daniel said.