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With the national school exams set to start on Monday, the Indonesian government has called for an end to the debate over the need for the controversial tests.

Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said on Friday that while there were conflicting views on the exams, “this is not the time to discuss whether or not we need them.

“We’re now focusing on how to run the exams successfully and smoothly,” he said.

“Stress is a part of life, and one way to unearth our children’s potential is to see how they handle stress and studies at the same time,” he added. “The national exams are conducted to evaluate the potential of our children. We need to know the difference between their knowledge and skills.”

Education and child rights activists have long lambasted the exams, which until this year were the sole determinant for whether a student graduated, as being unduly stressful for the children.

The ministry has responded to these complaints by including end-of-term tests and reports in the weighting for the final graduation score.

The exams this year are being held at a cost of Rp 587 billion ($67.5 million). Nuh said around 2.4 million out of 10.4 million students nationwide would take the first exams on Monday, supervised by more than 270,000 teachers.

He added that his office would also request police at certain schools where students were prone to cheating, but declined to name them.

“We realize there’s always the possibility students could cheat in the national exams, no matter how strict the supervision,” he said. “We’re also trying to prevent the question papers being leaked before the exam date by printing five versions of each exam.”

Nuh added that he was optimistic the average scores from this year’s students would be higher than both last year’s exams and this year’s class tests. The average score in the 2010 exams was 7.07 out of 10, while class test scores this year averaged 8.11.

“Only 0.01 percent of students nationwide scored less than 5 [in 2010], and 0.03 percent of them scored between 5 and 6,” Nuh said, adding that 58.66 percent of them scored between 8 and 9, 36.54 percent scored between 7 and 8, and 2.97 percent scored more than 9 points.

Jakarta Deputy Governor Prijanto visited schools on Friday to gauge their preparedness. He also called on students not to fall for touts selling test answers, saying they could be easily be incorrect given that there were five versions of each exam.

“Don’t believe anyone who tells you they have the answers to the questions, or the text messages offering to sell them,” he said. “You have to study hard and have confidence in yourselves.”

The Education Ministry has set up a call center where cheating or leaks can be reported. Concerned students can call 177 using a cellphone or 021 5795 0226. Text messages can be sent to 0811 197 6929.

The National Education Standardization Agency (BSNP) has also set up a hot line at 021 6860 9998, while the Education Evaluation Center (Puspendik) can be reached at 021 385 3000.