Jakarta (Media Indonesia: (19/04/07) Today is the final day of the national examination for high school students. The scoring system has a significant impact because it will determine who pass the exams and who don’t. Passing the exam means success and not passing in exams means failure. In line with such a categorization, passing the exam means having a bright future and fail in the exams means having a bleak future. Pass, fail, win and lose, always being debated each time students sit the national examination. Our national education system, so far, is still unable to find an appropriate quality standard and evaluation system which could give a hope and pride for Indonesian students. 

If the state has the responsibility to develop the intellectual life of the nation through education, then all citizens have the rights to hope for a better future through education. It is a contradiction if the education - which should be aimed at developing the intellectual life of the nation - produces two of outputs: those who fail and those who succeed or those who pass and those who do not pass; thus, education is a merciless judge against humanity.

The Law on National Education System No 20/2003 contains the spirit of education that saves the citizens. But the national exam which serves to evaluate education quality has been misused to decide who pas and who fails along with the entire consequences. The national examination also downgrades the education objective. There are only thee subjects tested (English, Indonesian, and mathematics). Education evaluation is only carried out in its cognitive aspects, while psychomotoric and affective aspects overlooked; even though those two aspects determine students’ future.

If education produces two kinds of outputs – those who fails and those who succeed – why should student sit another test to enroll to universities? This makes the high school exam which cost hundreds of billions of rupiah completely in vain because students passing the national examination are still considered unqualified to enroll to university. This also indicates that education institutions do not have any trust in national examination and lower education institutions. From the humanism aspects we should think about those from lower income brackets who had set aside so much funds and energy to send their kids to school only to be sentenced by the national examination. If students from poor families fail in the national examination, they do not have any hope to have a better future; because to have a job they should have a graduation certificate.

The biggest challenge in the national education system is producing students who can run their own life independently. All efforts to improve education quality - whether through a national examination or not – should aimed at reviving students’ hopes. This could only be achieved if the national education system is not oriented to higher levels, but it should expand wider reaching out vocational trainings. The outputs of education are not those who succeed and those who failed, but graduates who know where they should go to pursue their education for the sake of their future. Therefore, education should be an instrument of revival, not extermination. It should not side with the smart and successful ones; but it should side with the ones who loose and failed. This is the biggest challenges of national education which so far, we are still unable to determine how to implement it. From the beginning until now each new education minister introduces new policies.