Govt allocates Rp 572b for national exams

Monday, 12 January 2009

The Jakarta Post

The government has allocated Rp 572 billion (US$52 million) to hold the 2009 national examination in April, Education Ministry officials said Monday.

Mungin Eddy Wibowo, head of the ministry's Center for National Standards in Education, said Rp 200 billion would be used for junior high school exams, Rp 120 billion for senior high school exams, and Rp 56 billion for the National Standard Final Exam taken by all sixth graders.

"The rest of the funds will be used to hold the national equivalency tests," he said as quoted by Tempointeraktif.com.

Last year, around 10.3 million students took the exams. Around 7 percent failed.

The senior high national exam, which tests only Indonesian, English and mathematics, has been criticized for failing to take into account students' individual strengths and unique abilities. (dre)