Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Education Minister Mohammad Nuh said there had been no mass cheating in the national examination at Gadel state elementary school in Surabaya, East Java, recently as has been reported so far.

So, the government had decided not to repeat the examination at the school, he said to newsmen here on Wednesday.

A family has had to evacuate its home after neighbors protested the family for reporting the issue.

The minister said the answers given by the students in the examination did not follow an identical pattern.

"There were no identical answers. Therefore, there is no need of repeating the examination there. If the answers follow an identical pattern then it is believed that mass cheating has occurred and then a repeat examination must be held. But the conclusion is there was no mass cheating at the school," he said.

The education ministry had earlier asked the East Java education office to check the answers of 60 students who had taken the national examination at the school to see if there was an identical pattern in them.

The minister called on the public to see what had really happened before taking actions or a decision.

"Those who are wrong will be given sanctions. What we have to prevent is escalation of the problem into a social conflict between the one who reports it and the people who could not accept it," he said.

The allegation of mass cheating emerged following a report from Mrs Siami, the mother of one of the students. Mrs Siami said her son, Al, was told by his teacher to give his friends a copy of his answers in the examination recently.

Minister Nuh said he appreciated Mrs Siami and her family for telling about the cheating. "I appreciate their honesty but this does not automatically mean that mass cheating has occurred," he said.

He said what has been developing in the community now is that mass cheating has really occurred while on the other hand some parents have protested that their children have been accused of cheating.

"This pure academic issue must not develop to become a social problem," he said.
(Uu.H-YH/A/HAJM)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
Copyright © ANTARA 2011