Education and PISA

KOMPAS/HERU SRI KUMORO

M Jusuf Kalla

"Since participating in PISA in 2000, science education in Indonesia has undergone an extraordinary transformation to create the foundation for prosperity and sustainable development," says the Indonesia Country Note: Results from PISA 2015 assessment report from the OECD, referring to the Program for International Student Assessment.

The report conveys high appreciation for the progress in Indonesian education, especially in reading, mathematics and science. "Between 2012 and 2015 alone, science performance among 15-year-old students increased by 21 score points. This makes Indonesia the fifth-fastest improving education system among the 72 that took part in this comparison," the report says.

The OECD’s Country Note for Indonesia also states, "If Indonesia can keep up that pace of improvement, its children born today have a realistic chance to match the science performance of their peers in the industrialised world by 2030."

Why did Indonesia suddenly decline in PISA 2018?

The conclusion drawn from the PISA 2015 report on Indonesia, which can be read online (https://www.oecd.org/pisa/PISA-2015-Indonesia.pdf), is truly convincing in that the hard work to date in Indonesian education – from government policies to teachers and students, and the National Exam (UN) – has been very successful.

However, why did Indonesia suddenly decline in PISA 2018? According to the related report, its students scored 371 in reading in 2003 and this increased to 397 in 2015, but fell to 371 in 2018. Indonesia’s mathematics score rose from 360 to 386 in 2015, and then fell to 379 in 2018. The science score rose from 393 to 403 in 2015, and then dropped to fell in 2018.

Read more : Learning from PISA

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

A student looks at a monitor during the computer-based national exam (UNBK) on April 2, 2019 at SMKN 2 state vocational senior high school in Salatiga, Central Java. The use of information technology in the national exams continues to be developed to reduce exam-related problems, such as delays and inadvertent mix-ups in the distribution of exam materials, the use of paper and the potential for cheating.

National Exam

What policies changed in 2015-2018, when the government made many positive efforts like improving teacher welfare, establishing teacher training centers in many cities, disbursing large budgets, initiating the Smart Card program and providing various assistance programs for underprivileged students?

It turns out that the critical change in 2015 was the policy of the Education and Culture Minister, which revoked the national exam as a graduation requirement. I believe that it is this change that caused students to decline in their enthusiasm for learning. I called upon two relevant ministers at the time to reevaluate the policy.

While serving as the Coordinating Minister for People\'s Welfare in 2002, we compared the results of elementary and junior high school exams in Indonesia over the 50 years from 1950 to 2000 to determine the quality of education. It turned out that this was an extraordinarily difficult task that involved calculating the scores of elementary school subjects from 50 years ago and comparing these to the scores in the 2000 exams, which was in the multiple-choice format. Finally, we discovered that elementary school graduates in the 1950s were far different from elementary school graduates in the 2000s.

It turns out that the critical change in 2015 was the policy of the Education and Culture Minister.

We also compared three ASEAN countries that administered National Exam in Malay and English: Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. This comparison was far more surprising, as the questions in the mathematics exam for elementary education in Singapore and Malaysia were nearly at the same level as the junior high exams in Indonesia. There is no need to mention the English-language exams for Malaysia and Singapore, which were clearly above Indonesia’s because they used Cambrigde or Oxford standards for their exam questions.

Only the Philippines had exam questions that were almost the same as Indonesia. Looking at the comparative data, I concluded that what made their education quality higher was that they had standardized graduation requirements. The passing score for the National Exam in Malaysia or Singapore is seven (7).

Consequently, a study was conducted to improve education quality through the National Exam. Following the National Education Ministry’s six-month survey of the national exam system at a number of schools, it was discovered that some schools scored very low in certain subjects. Therefore, the government in 2003 asked the National Education Minister to hold a national exam to streamline the education standards throughout Indonesia, by encouraging students to study more diligently while providing opportunities for regional schools to offer subjects with local content.

Read more : PISA and Our Human Resource’s Capacity

KOMPAS/ABDULLAH FIKRI ASHRI

Hendrik Andriana teaches mathematics to two third-grade students on Wednesday (27/11/2019) at SDN 3 Karangwuni state elementary school in Karangwuni village of Sedong district, Cirebon regency, West Java. The two students make up the school’s entire student body.

The 2003 National Exam began with a required passing grade of 3.5, and resulted in 18 percent of all students throughout Indonesia failing to graduate. It was very worrying. The passing grade was set at 3.5 because if the passing grade were to be set at 5.5, then 40 percent of students would not graduate. Each year thereafter, the passing grade was increased 0.5 points until it reached the 5.5 standard it is today, and the percentage of graduating students remains high. This means that there was a gradual increase in quality because the students were motivated to study harder.

Moreover, the National Exam help the government map and provide assistance to underperforming regions and schools. That is the basic essence of educating the children of the Unitary State of the Republic of Indonesia (NKRI), which is in line with Law No. 20/2003 on National Education. All public schools and their costs are nearly the same. Lab facilities, textbooks and teaching materials are the same. Almost all teachers have a bachelor degree (S1). Private schools have funding support from the School Operational Assistance program.

Standardizing the National Exam was complemented with rotating principals from less developed regions and posting them as vice principals at good schools, mostly in Java, while good vice principals were appointed the principals of schools in less developed regions. The goal was to transform the knowledge and learning culture. This national standardization scheme attempted to eliminate the interregional gap in education quality.

Improving the quality of education is like training for the high jump. Other countries improve student achievement by gradually increasing the bar. In Indonesia, because all students want to graduate – or get over the bar – the height of the bar was lowered. The standards must instead be maintained and raised gradually, including for teacher competency. Whatever method is applied, the goals will be difficult to achieve without discipline in studying and teacher competence. School exams employed the

Ebtanas from 1980 to 2000. In practice, teachers use school exams to test classroom learning, while the National Exam evaluate learning according to the curriculum.

Criticism of the National Exam

Strangely, the National Exam has always been criticized as useless. But any effort to advance education comes with costs. Most of these costs are spent on teacher welfare, preparing exam materials and their supervision, administration and other activities by teachers. After the National Exam became computerized in 2019 and started saving on printing and distribution costs, its budget decreased from Rp 500 billion to Rp 210 billion (60 percent).

Another frequent criticism concerns leaked exam materials. However, this problem was be resolved once the Education and Culture Ministry developed grade-specific exam materials and the exams were digitized. Another criticism that is usually lobbed at the National Exam is that the National Exam only produces a generation of memorizers.

The youth of the millennial generation that are now the nation’s hope have largely emerged from the National Exam generation, especially those aged 33 years and below who attended local schools. In reality, they are good at not only memorizing, but also thinking and innovating, because memorization is a way to aid thinking, and memorization alone cannot help solve mathematics and science problems.

Many parents and teachers complain and protest because the National Exam is considered burdensome. However, millions of parents are attentive in encouraging their children to study diligently or study as a group while praying. Those who complain are generally those who are not ready to take the exam. Is there success without hard work?

Many regions with poor education levels are weak believe that there is no need for a national standard. It is precisely these regions we need to improve through the national system. If they were left free to determine the standards for each school and region, their students would find it difficult to compete in the world of work or to pursue higher education, and it would create a federal system.

Finland is often referred to for its quality education and its teaching and learning systems. The country has a population of only 5.5 million with a per capita income of US$40,000 per year. Compare this with Indonesia, which has a 265 million population and a per capita income of $4,100 per year. Of course Finland, which has a population equivalent to Yogyakarta’s, can accomplish much. Even then, Finland ranked 16th in the PISA 2018 while the US ranked 27th.

As for Indonesia, only Jakarta and Yogyakarta have scored above 400 and will rank in the 40s in the PISA assessment. The highest ranking countries are China, Singapore, Korea and Japan. We must follow disciplined and thorough learning alongside our fellow Asian countries. As the Prophet Muhammad said, "Seek knowledge, even as far as China."

Starting next year, Singapore will eliminate the National Exam after almost 50 years of implementation, because it has attained the highest ranking in the world. However, Indonesia is still at a lower ranking and is certain make progress with the right system, as the OECD has concluded. Of course, the curriculum continues to see improvements, such as in the 2013 curriculum that encouraged more creative teachers and students.

KOMPAS/WAWAN H PRABOWO

Jusuf Kalla

As for the policymakers, do not always assume that the old achievements are wrong and must be changed, and by adopting a liberal education system at that, as is common in America. Clear and very careful evaluation is needed, because change in the education system only becomes visible after 5-10 years. If the policy is wrong, it will harm the futures of tens of millions of young people, and the future of the nation as a whole.

M. Jusuf Kalla, Vice President of the Republic of Indonesia, 20 Oct. 2004-20 Oct. 2009 and 20 Oct. 2014-20 Oct. 2019.