National Examination

For the recent years, National Examination (or commonly known as UN—Ujian Nasional) has become one of mostly discussed issues in the realm of education. The conduction itself has raised some pros and cons among the government, educators, and students. Some people think that UN is the best way to improve human quality resources in Indonesia, while others debate on its unfair drawbacks (e.g. corruption). It is unfair to judge UN from the surface only; therefore, here are some positive effects which are: UN as an effective means to measure national students’ competence and to set up national parameter, and also as a guide for the government to make follow-up programs; and the negative effects of UN which are: UN cannot be an absolute way to measure students’ capability and UN  triggers students to only focus on the courses that are being examined.

The first advantage of having National Examination or UN (Ujian Nasional) is because it is the most feasible means to measure the national standard of Indonesian students’ competence. The positive effect of conducting exam on national scale simultaneously in four-day period, is that the government, or Ministry of Education specifically, can assess the students’ level of competence equally. Then consequently, after knowing the results of the exam, the government can define and set up the national parameter of students’ competence through passing grade depending whether it is still substandard, or it has exceeded the expectation. If the parameter is defined still considerably low, the government can establish some follow-up programs that later will develop students’ competence, as well as to improve education system and human resources quality in Indonesia in the near future.

Aside from  the positive sides of conducting national exam, there are also several negative sides that come from UN. National exam can not be an absolute measurement of students’ capability since it determines their three years studying progress only by four-days period. Sulistyo (2009) stated that UN can also trigger students to only focus on the courses that are being examined and abandon others although they are potentially capable of excelling in it. For example students who are fond of art e.g. drawing, painting, dancing, etc., forced to learn natural science objects such as physics, chemistry, and biology; or social science objects such as economy, geography, etc. There is no chance for them to excel in their area of expertise due to demand of passing the UN or in other words, UN has subtly seized the students’ right.

To sum up, there are some positive and negative effects of conducting UN in Indonesia. UN is supposedly to be a means to improve human resources in Indonesia, or in this case is students; however, in the process, there are some negative drawbacks occur, making UN is not an effective way as the government expected to be. Therefore, instead of making UN as the only absolute way to measure national students’ competence, government should involve schools and teachers to work together in order to assess students’ competence by having school final tests and the progress of the study as one of the considerations of students’ graduation. The goverment must also reconsider many things such as the subjects examined and the assessment process outside the UN subjects to make UN work effectively.

ž  Sulistyo, GUNadi Harry. 2009. English as a Measurement Standard in the National Examination: Some Grassroots’ Voice. State UNiversity of Malang: TEFLIN Journal Volume 20, Number 1.

 By :  Annisa Lista

            Azalia Illahi

            Indriani Dwi

            Palupi

            Sema K.