Fedina S. Sundaryani, Jakarta – Although details remain scarce on the new mechanism for the national exams, the Culture and Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry has confirmed that individual schools will be fully responsible for determining students' graduation.

"Teachers and their schools will have full control over the standard for students' graduation under our new system," the ministry's research and development head, Furqon, told The Jakarta Post.

Under the current system, secondary students have to score at least a 4 in every subject and attain an average score of at least 5.5 from the national exams, school exams and report cards.

Also under the current system, high school students who fail to pass the national exams can repeat the test the following year, or take an equivalent test and receive a different type of diploma. Furqon said that the ministry was currently evaluating the national exams and devising improvements.

He added that the ministry would publish the result of the review in late January. "We can't give you the details or we risk compromising the process," he said.

The Federation for Indonesian Teachers Associations (FSGI) applauded the ministry's decision to overhaul the current national exams. FSGI secretary-general Retno Listyarti said that the decision was a sign of trust from the government to allow schools and teachers to determine their students' performance.

"The current system contradicts the 2003 National Education System Law, which stipulates that the individual school is the only institution liable to evaluate students' performance," she said.

Retno further said that only teachers and school administrators could judge if a student is fit for graduation, as only they possessed the full records of students' progress throughout the years.

Education expert Arief Rachman, however, said that the ministry should not jettison the national exams. "I believe that the national exams should be used to evaluate whether or not a student should graduate. However, I don't believe that the standard should be the same everywhere, as some regions lags behind major cities like Jakarta," he said.

Arief also suggested that universities should adjust their system to accept students from places deemed to fail to meet the national standard.

Earlier, Culture and Primary and Secondary Education Minister Anies Baswedan said that under his plan, the national exam would be used to draw a map of where subjects have been taught effectively by schools.

In 2012, Indonesia ranked 64th, 64th and 60th in mathematics, science and reading respectively out of 74 countries who took the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) exams held by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2015/01/02/schools-teachers-decide-passing-grade-ministry.html