Nadya Natahadibrata, Jakarta – A coalition of educators and antigraft activists have called on President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to sack his Education and Culture Minister Mohammad Nuh for the latter's incompetence in organizing this year's national examination, which resulted in a delay of the exams in 11 provinces.

The coalition also said that Nuh did not deserve the ministerial post he currently held due to his failure to come up with strategies to improve the country's education, as indicated by his ministry's failure to produce a decent curriculum for the 2013 school year.

"If Mohammad Nuh refuses to step down, we will strongly urge the President to fire him," said Indonesian Teachers Unions Federation (FSGI) secretary-general Retno Listyarti on Sunday.

Education activist Bambang Wisudo of Sekolah Tanpa Batas (Schools Without Borders), a non-governmental organization promoting creative and critical education, said the chaos in this year's national exam was the culmination of a series of management blunders within the Education and Culture Ministry under Nuh's leadership.

"He can't even organize the national exam. How can he produce a new curriculum that was only prepared in less than a year," Bambang said.

He said that if Nuh had his way with the new curriculum the state of the country's education could take a further turn for the worse. "The curriculum will not improve the quality of education in the country, but will instead make it worse. We urge the minister to immediately step down," he added.

Indonesian Corruption Watch (ICW) accused Nuh of overseeing irregularities in the preparation of logistics for the 2013 national exam.

ICW researcher Ade Irawan said Nuh was the most responsible official for the national exam fiasco, as he held the highest authority to plan the budget and organize the tender for the printing and distribution of exam materials. "Based on ICW findings, corruption practices mostly occurred during budget planning," Ade said.

ICW suspected this year's unorganized national exam could be related to a plan to collect funds for the election. "Approaching the general elections, the massive budget managed by the ministry could likely be channeled to accommodate political interests," Ade said.

As previously reported, the ministry disbursed Rp 644.24 billion (US$66.29 million) for the national exams, with a total of Rp 120.59 billion allocated for the printing and distribution of exam materials for both junior and senior high schools, and Rp 85.57 billion for elementary school exams.

The Finance Ministry had blocked the budget for the exam, as the initial budget – as stated with Presidential Decree No. 37/2012 – was Rp 544 billion, with 14.08 million participating students and a unit cost of Rp 39,000 per student.

However, the version of the budget as proposed by the Education and Culture Ministry was approved by the House of Representatives. The approved budget, Rp 644 billion, was earmarked for 12.23 million students with a unit cost of Rp 53,000 per student.

The Finance Ministry finally decided to disburse the fund in March, following the finalization of contracts to print the materials.

"The difference in the number of students participating in the exams and the unit cost raises so many questions. There should be an investigation into this and not only into irregularities involving the printing company," Ade said.

The coalition also called for the removal of the national exam from the country's education system.

Retno regretted that state universities backed the ministry by allowing the result of this year's national exam to be used as one of the requirements for high school students to apply to state universities through the merit-based selection process.

Head of the government committee tasked with organizing the state universities national entrance test, Akhmaloka, said this year's national exam results would remain the requirement for the selection process formerly known as PMDK and now renamed SNMPTN.

Nuh balked at the call for him to resign, saying that only Yudhoyono could decide his fate in the Cabinet. "I was assigned by the President, not by others. Whether I am deemed a failure depends on those who assess me," Nuh told reporters in Surabaya on Sunday, as quoted by Antara news agency.