ollowing the recent debacle over low teacher pay, Indonesia’s education system has been hit by yet another wave of bad news. This time it comes from the students themselves, who have demonstrated alarmingly poor literacy and numeracy skills on a recent nationwide test.
Results of the first annual Academic Competency Test (TKA), issued by the Elementary and Secondary Education Ministry in late May, showed consistently low performance across elementary, junior high and senior high school students. The exam – administered in April to final-year elementary and junior high students, and last October to senior high schoolers – measured proficiency in mathematics and Indonesian. English and other electives were added for the senior high category.
On a scale of zero to 100, these students could not score higher than an average of 42 in math and 60 in Indonesian, falling well below the minimum competency benchmark commonly set at 70. Senior high students performed even worse in English – a language Gen-Z is widely assumed to be fluent in because of massive exposure to digital media – scoring a national average of just 25.
Experts are quick to point out that the TKA, which echoes national exam schemes conducted over the past two decades, merely confirms a persistent, long-term stagnation in basic literacy and numeracy.
Some may argue that standardized test scores provide only a limited snapshot of student development, failing to assess broader attributes like character, discipline and soft skills. While that may be true, these scores offer a sobering glimpse into our students’ real-world abilities – abilities that directly dictate their future prospects.
Beyond the data, these deficiencies manifest as stark realities in daily life. Social media is rife with anecdotes of teenagers working in retail or hospitality who are unable to calculate a customer’s change without a calculator. Other reports claim that some 11th graders struggle to answer basic multiplication questions like six times eight.
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While some experts blame these low TKA scores on inadequate teaching quality, it is unfair to place the burden solely on educators. Teachers are already overwhelmed by administrative tasks and daily classroom demands, all while remaining severely underpaid.
