FLOODS DELAY STUDENTS ON WAY TO NAT'L EXAM

Bandung, W Java, March 22 (ANTARA) - Floods that inundated the Baleendah neighborhood in Bandung district slowed down many students who needed to reach their schools in time for the national examination on Monday morning.

At least 42 students of some high schools in Baleendah arrived late because traffic jams blocked them on their ways, a local national exam committee member said.

The students' houses were also submerged by the floods that had hit several villages in Bandung district following heavy rainfall over the past two days.

The latecomers included students from the As-Salam, Karya Bhakti and 10 November high schools. The national examinations will last five days starting Monday.

According to Wiratanu, a local examiner, the students who arrived late were still allowed to sit in the examination but would not be given extra time.

Meanwhile, the first day of the national examination in the West Java district of Tasikmalaya was attended by 3,514 students from 24 senior high schools and 2,413 students from f 27 vocational high schools.
The district's education authorities said none of the school buildings damaged by the September 2009 earthquakes was used for this year's national examinations.

" None of the students is taking the examination in temporary tents or damaged class rooms," head of Tasikmalaya district's education office Muhammad Zein said.

Monday was the first day of national examinations for more than two million 12th-grade students in Indonesia.

Started at 08.00 local time, the first subject examined was the Indonesian language followed by biology (for natural science students) and sociology (for social science students).

In Jakarta, Vice President Boediono visited the 70th state high school to inspect the students participating in the examination.

Accompanied by Education Minister M.Nuh, and some other cabinet members, Boediono encouraged the students to maintain their integrity and honesty in doing the exams.

Honesty, fairness, and objectivity should be maintained because these qualities were very important for students, he said.

The central government's decision to hold the national examination had triggered hot public debates because the results would continue to be used as the dominant factor in deciding the students' fate.

Instead of giving teachers the right to determine their students to graduate from their schools, the government has used the examination results as the only measure for deciding the students' fate.