Questionnaire for students

KOMPAS/KHAERUL ANWAR

Students of SDN 3 Bengkaung state elementary school in West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara, can now learn quietly and comfortably, after their school building was rebuilt with donations from Kompas Daily readers, through the Kompas Humanitarian Fund Foundation. The building was handed over on Thursday (28/2/2019).

There is something different in this year\'s national exam. Students have been asked to fill out a questionnaire on factors that affect their learning.

The students’ response to the questionnaires do not affect their scores on the exam. The government, as reported by this daily, wants to learn more about factors that may affect learning. For example, issues related to the welfare of the student, the involvement of parents and teachers in the learning process and school environment.

Of course, we welcome this step because we rarely hear about how students feel about the learning process. So far, good or bad perceptions about education are usually only from conveyed by parents. In fact, times have changed, sources of information are abundant and parent-child relationships are far different from before.

Such questionnaires are of course needed. Quantitative data does not adequately describe the actual condition of the education system. For example, citing data from the Education and Culture Ministry, the number of students that have dropped out at all levels of education is less than 1 percent of the total number of students.

In elementary school, for example, out of 25.4 million students in the 2017/2018 school year, 32,127 students dropped out of school. At the junior high school level, of the 10.1 million students , 51,190 students dropped out of school. Meanwhile, among 9.6 million high school/vocational school students, around 104,511 students dropped out of school. However, this information is not enough to provide an explanation as to why students drop out of school.

If the reason is economic factors, hasn’t the government made basic education free? In addition, the government has also disbursed enormous funds through the Indonesia Smart Program/Indonesia Smart Card (PIP/KIP) for poor students. From 2015 to 2018, the government has distributed funds of around Rp 35.7 trillion to 27.9 million KIP recipient students.

KOMPAS/HENDRA A SETYAWAN

Twelfth graders conduct a practice test to make water rockets at Dua Mei Senior High School in Cempaka Putih, South Tangerang, Banten, on Thursday (28/2/2019). This activity was a test of a physics theory, one of the subjects required for the students to pass the exam. Twelfth graders who wish to continue their studies also had to prepare for a computer-based writing exam registration for state university entrance admissions that was held starting March 1.

The amount of funds received by students is Rp 450,000 per year for elementary school students, Rp 750,000 for junior high school students and Rp 1 million per year for high school/vocational high school students. Given the situation, of course, there are problems that are left unanswered if there are still dropouts. The questionnaires can hopefully shed some light.

However, why should the questionnaire be distributed during the national exam? If the purpose is to find out how students feel, it would certainly be much wiser if the questionnaire was not given during the exam so as to not disturb the concentration of students.

KOMPAS/PRIYOMBODO

Yansen teaches grade 1 students at SD YPPK St. Agustinus Elementary School in Manasari, Mimika Timur Jauh district, Mimika regency, Papua, on Monday (4/3/2019). There are still many children in Papua who cannot get education because they have to follow their parents to work.

More importantly, the government must be able to provide an explanation to the public about the purpose of the questionnaires and how it will follow up after the answers are reviewed.