Michael Victor Sianipar – Millions of students across the country have entered what is arguably the most stressful week of their lives so far as national school exams began on Monday.

The heightened anxiety is shared by parents and teachers, who also want to see students pass their exams so they can graduate in two months.

But some education experts argue that the stress and anxiety of this period, and the subsequent pressure to cheat, is unnecessary and should be avoided by scrapping the exams altogether.

Utomo Dananjaya, an education expert at Paramadina University in Jakarta, said the exams had a negative psychological impact on students. "It's wasteful because there's nothing positive that comes out of it," he said. "We spend roughly Rp 667 billion [$72.7 million] a year [to hold the exams], and our children, from elementary to high school, feel threatened by the tests."

Academic evaluation should benefit the students, he added. "Instead of serving the needs of students, the exams have become a menace that will determine their future," Utomo said. "If a student doesn't pass, their future is ruined."

In the past, critics have challenged the exams in court. In 2009, the Supreme Court ruled that the government should improve teacher quality, educational infrastructure and access to knowledge before conducting another nationwide exam.

Utomo said the Ministry of Education and Culture had not made any noticeable improvements since then and should not carry out the national exams until it addressed key deficiencies.

One of the issues is cheating. Although Education Minister Muhammad Nuh has dismissed reports of cheating on the first day of exams, Utomo believes the practice is still happening.

"The exams have undermined character education," Utomo said. "Every time the national exams come around, even the teachers collaborate with their students to get cheat sheets."

High expectations fuel the drive to cheat, he continued. "The government, from the ministers to local mayors, has targeted a 90 percent pass rate. Where does that figure come from? It's impossible to attain that target if everyone's being honest," Utomo said.

"If the target isn't achieved, the teachers get blamed. That's why many teachers are willing to use any means possible to help reach that target."

Darmaningtyas, an education expert from the Taman Siswa school network, agreed that the exams took a heavy psychological toll on students. "Many of them become irrational," he said. "They visit graves or pray to the point of tears, in the hope of performing well. The psychological burden is too heavy. It's better to get rid of the exams altogether.

In place of exams, he proposes two possible substitutes. "If the aim is to standardize education across the nation, then a biannual diagnostic test that doesn't determine graduation is sufficient," he said. "National exams only stoke anxiety without any meaningful purpose."

The other alternative would be an optional test. "For those who wish to compare themselves against other students, they can take this test. Others who consider such tests unnecessary and burdensome can opt out," he says.

These proposals could take years to implement, however, and Darmaningtyas said students now facing stressful exams had no choice but to tough them out. "All we can do is pray that over the next three days our students will be able to finish the tests and graduate successfully in two months," he said.