“New minister, new curriculum. New minister, new rules.” This mantra often comes up during changes in Cabinet, especially regarding the Education and Culture Ministry.
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Kompas/Heru Sri Kumoro
Education and Culture Minister Nadiem Makarim smiles at the camera on Thursday (12/12/2019) during a lull in a working meeting with the House Commission X at the Senayan legislative complex in Central Jakarta. He discussed topics such as the school zoning system, a plan to abolish the national exams and the 2020 education budget.
The sentence succinctly portrays the concerns of communities, students, parents, teachers and other stakeholders in national education. A new education ministry is often followed by uncertainty as curriculums, rules and the education system can change at any time.
In less than two months after he was inaugurated as education and culture minister, Nadiem Anwar Makarim on Wednesday (11/12/2019) issued an education policy package named Merdeka Belajar ( Freedom to Learn). It contains four new rules for the immediate future: the national standardized school exam (USBN) will be managed by schools starting from 2020; the national exam (UN) will be dropped from 2021 onwards to be replaced with a minimum competency assessment and a character survey administered for students in the fourth, eighth and 11th grades. The policy will also mandate a simplification of the learning plan (RPP) so that teachers will enjoy more time teaching students, and new student enrollment based on zoning will be made more flexible (Kompas, 12-13/12/2019).
Public attention was absorbed by the news that the UN would be dropped starting in 2021. Since it was established, the UN has triggered controversies as it determines students’ graduation in elementary, middle and high schools and is used as a reference to enroll in higher levels of education. For instance, high school graduates rely on their UN scores to enroll in universities. This is despite the fact that the UN only captures the momentary results of students’ work at the final grade of each school level, examining only certain subjects with a focus on rote learning.
For instance, high school graduates rely on their UN scores to enroll in universities.
Kompas recorded that on May 23, 2006, the House Commission X requested that the government do away with the UN. In 2010, then-President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono decided to maintain the UN but requested for improvements. In 2017, the government issued a UN moratorium after regulating that the UN no longer be the exclusive measurement of students’ success.
The UN, which was later developed into a computer-based national exam (UNBK), is a national standardized evaluation system for basic and secondary education. It is a continuation of the national final exam (UAN). The UAN was originally intended to be carried out by an independent agency, but it was never established until the UAN was replaced in 2005. The student evaluation system has changed names multiple times. Past names for the exam include the national final stage study evaluation (Ebtanas), school final exam (UAS), national standard UAS and state exam.
The Education and Culture Minister said the UN would be replaced with a minimum competency assessment and a character survey, but this remained little understood by the public. The minister and his officials must immediately disseminate information regarding the new policy openly, so that students, parents, teachers and educators in the country will understand it and stop questioning it. One and a half years is not a long time to improve an entire system and convince the public that it is the best.
Law No. 20/2003 on the national education system stipulates that the education system must be adaptable to the changing time
