During a consultation meeting between the DPR and Education and Culture Ministry, we agreed to scrap national exams for junior and senior high school students to protect them from COVID-19.
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The House of Representatives (DPR) and the Education and Culture Ministry shared the same opinion to do away with national exams (UN) this year to safeguard students from contracting the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), a lawmaker stated.

"During a consultation meeting between the DPR and Education and Culture Ministry, we agreed to scrap national exams for junior and senior high school students to protect them from being infected with COVID-19," Chief of the House Commission X Syaiful Huda noted in a written statement released on Tuesday.

The agreement was reached after taking into account the extensive spread of COVID-19. National exams for senior high school students were originally scheduled for March 30 and for junior high school students in late April, he remarked.

"The COVID-19 crisis is expected to last until April. It is impossible to force students to take national exams when the threat of the COVID-19 outbreak looms large over all. Hence, we have agreed to scrap the national exams," he expounded.

Huda stated that the ministry is mulling over an option to swap national exams with standardized national school exams. However, this alternative course of action would be taken only if the schools concerned can hold standardized national school exams online.

"We agree that the option can be adopted only if (the standardized national school exams) are organized online. In principle, we do not want crowds of students at schools," he pointed out.

If online standardized national school exams cannot be conducted, the passing grades will be based on cumulative scores during a three-year study at the school for junior and senior high school students and a six-year study at the school for elementary school students.

"Schools will decide on whether to pass the students based on the cumulative scores since all curricular or extra-curricular activities are documented in report cards," he added. Related news: 13 Indonesians in Malaysia test positive for COVID-19

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