By: Nastiti Maharina *
In the Cawapres debate event, Sandiaga had said that the Regional Education Balance (NPD) and Basic Education Data (Dapodik) appointed by Mufr were not necessarily able to bring quality education.
The Prabowo pair also said that he would abolish the National Examination (UN) and replace it with a mapping of talents and interests.
This was considered by Irma Suryani Chaniago as the spokesperson for the Jokowi – Mauf National Campaign Team (TKN) as an absurd idea and could create new problems in the world of education.
“The absence of a national exam will make the standards of students in Indonesia become very different,” said spokesman for TKN Irma Suryani Chaniago.
The politician from the NasDem Party revealed that the former Deputy Governor of DKI Jakarta needed to re-understand the significance of the national exam. Because the National Examination was made with the results of thoughts that were so hard.
“We have been struggling to build a system so that national resources have standards that can be accounted for. In fact, Sandiaga offered an absurd concept. Based on the search for interests and talents, “explained Irma.
Irma argued that the program proposed by Vice President Candidate number 02 in the field of education and human resource improvement was something that was not concrete and seemed to overlook.
“Compare that with what Pakufuf explained that the government will provide scholarships to higher education. So that every Indonesian child can hang his dreams as high as the sky without worrying about the high cost of education, “said Irma.
The work program offered by Sandiaga also received criticism from the Head of the DIY Education and Youth Office (Disdikpora), Baskara Aji. He said that if a decision is made that there is no national examination, then we must have a replacement first if we have agreed together.
According to Aji, so far the government has used the UN results as a barometer to measure the competency level of students. If the National Examination is abolished suddenly, it is feared there will be no more measuring instruments to determine the level of students’ abilities.
“The absorption of children in each school is the only new national exam that we use. If we then replace it with a test of interest in talent, it cannot make material – material that is national in nature we know its absorption, “he added.
While the assessment of students based on their search for interests and talents has long been applied in DIY. Aji gave an example of the Special Talent Center Development Program (PPMBI) which has been implemented in various schools.
“We collaborate with FIK (Faculty of Teacher Training), our art and culture in collaboration with the arts and culture institutions. Our science collaborates with UGM and so on, ITB and so on, “said Baskara Aji.
So that the decision to stop or continue the policy related to the national exam for Aji certainly needs to be dealt with first, it is appropriate that this be discussed through careful discussion to find out what is the replacement.
Another response also came from the Minister of Education and Culture Muhadjir, he explained that with the implementation of the National Examination, the Government wanted to explore the intrinsic motivation of the children themselves. Besides also wanting to know the real abilities of children who are not forced or not stimulated by various kinds of lure.
“You can use other terms, you can. Since long ago, it was not the determination of graduation. It is not there, the National Examination has not determined graduation, “said the former Chancellor of the University of Muhammadiyah Malang.
Muhadjir also admitted that he wanted to know the real map in the field so that “treatment” was created which had not been good and had to be improved.
Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla also said that the National Examination was the only way to evaluate. He said there was only a national examination in our education that was still low, how to know the quality of education if the national examination was not held.
Jusuf Kalla also did not approve the proposal from Sandiaga Uno, he argued that the number of students per year could reach 5 million people.
“How can you test the talent of 5 million people a year? How do you do that, “he said
Of course, the elimination of UN can have an impact on the quality of national education that is not evenly distributed throughout Indonesia. This is because there are unequal standards in each school, therefore, programs related to the elimination of national examination do not necessarily offer solutions.
*) Socio-cultural Observer
