Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla. TEMPO/Praga Utama
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Vice President Jusuf Kalla said that there will not be any major changes in relation to the implementation of the National Exam (UN). Kalla released his statement following President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's refusal to impose a moratorium on the UN. Previously, the plan to eliminate National Exam was proposed by the Education and Culture Minister.
Kalla added that the National-Based School Exam (USBN) that was prepared as an alternative to the UN will be carried out in parallel to the regular UN. "Both of [the UN and the USBN] will be held," Jusuf Kalla said on Tuesday, December 20, 2016.
President Jokowi argued that National Exam is still needed to measure the overall quality of Indonesian students. Jokowi added that it would be difficult to quantify the student's quality without conducting the UN.
Kalla explained the government decided to organize USBN to make sure that other school subjects would receive the same priority compared three main subjects included in the UN: Math, Bahasa Indonesia, and English.
Kalla said that the USBN be organized based on a national standard. Kalla added that the exam questions will be made by each school in reference to a national standard to maintain the exam’s quality.
