UAN . . . engga . . . UAN . . . engga . . .

By the looks of the title, I bet some of you might have guessed what this is all about . . .yep . . . the dreaded final national exams faced by all students of class XII nationwide. Dreaded coz it absolutely determines the fate of the whole study for 3 years in high school, whether they graduate or not graduate . . .
Might seem like a simple and mundane matter, it has been able to stir the crowds and opinions of thousands of people across the nation. Either they support or oppose the implementation of a nationwide final exam, what’s really interesting is the fact that it illustrates how horrendous and messed up the education system is in my sadly beloved country.

For starters . . . the whole UAN thingy happened way back around the 70s as a tool to determine the graduation of high school kids. As years passed by, it had been through various changes in terms of names, implementation methods and what is being examined. In my days, it was called EBTANAS and put up 6 units to be examined, in which the subjects are determined by what major you’re taking at the time, whether science, social or languages.

And now it has changed names, but not only name. What changed and caused the whole controversy until now is the fact that this examination turned up to be the sole instrument to determine if a student passes high school. In my days, the final exam was one of the various instruments used aside the students 3 years evaluation by their home class teacher and their report. But now, everyone sees the final exam as some sort of final judgment that overlooks and disregards a student’s achievement and learning process over the pass 3 years they have been through.

On this part, honestly, I am in no position to judge whether this way is a fair way to conduct things, but if I were asked my personal opinion, I would say that things can be a lot more fairer if a student’s is evaluated on a comprehensive basis on all aspects from class X to the time they graduate. I mean, the essence of learning is all about internalizing everything we have learn't and gained from education and how we can implement and understand it through our lives. So it takes a lot of consideration to decide whether someone has failed or not. And using the final exam as a sole tool, I wouldn’t say it’s a good idea . . .

On the other hand, the final exam is also notorious for the fact that it raises its passing mark every year. What seen wrong is that the rise is seen as disregarding the fact that the education level and quality is not yet equally spread across the republic. Hence, for the opponents, they see that the government is turning a blind eye on the fact that they have yet to educate the citizens with equal quality on those in the established areas and cities.

I have to admit that the government still has its homework on providing better and equal education across the nation. But on the other hand, this doesn’t mean they shouldn’t raise the standards slowly. If this republic have to wait till all things are equal in terms of educational quality, I’m afraid that it’ll be too late. The fact now is that we are far left behind in terms of standards of graduation. And it ought to be done immediately while taking care of all the other problems simultaneously.

For the students, I can often see they do have idle time to protest the final exam. While it is a good thing to convey your thoughts and ideas in a healthy manner, I would rather prefer you guys to prepare for the exams thoroughly. The decision to tackle the final exam implementation, if it were to ever happen, would take years and a lot of consideration from the higher ups. By then, you might have entered college . . or even worked. So . . . its clear to put your efforts on what is inevitable . . . also with plenty amount of prayers too . . . last word . . . May
God Speed You ;).