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Amid public outcry over the plummeting pass rate in this year’s national exams for junior high school students, unexpected success stories from Bali have seen the province lead the country in a field dominated in the past by western provinces.

Bali has registered the country’s highest pass rate for junior high students, at 98.6 percent among 55,181 junior high students, and has no schools with a zero pass rate, National Education Minister Muhammad Nuh said.

Nationwide, though, the 90 percent pass rate among the 3.6 million junior high students has raised questions about the quality of the public education system. The pass rate last year was 95 percent, while in Bali it was 99.6 percent of 52,067 students.

The results disprove critics’ claims that western regions of the country are prioritized over central or eastern ones in terms of education, Nuh said.

Two Balinese students were singled out for praise by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono after they posted near-perfect exam scores. Ni Made Yuli Lestari from SMP 1 in Gianyar and Ni Kadek Indra Puspayanti from SMP 1 in Abiansemal each scored 100 percent in math, science and Indonesian, and 98 percent in English.

In a conference call to the two girls from his residence in Cikeas, Bogor, Yudhoyono praised them for their achievements, which garnered the province two gold medals. Bali bagged another two gold medals for posting the highest average exam score, at 93.8 percent, and for having the highest pass rate nationwide.

“Congratulations to Bali and its achievements, which I hope the province can maintain,” Yudhoyono said.

Yuli told the president she began preparing for the exams six months early by enrolling in several extracurricular courses, while Indra said she made use of the Internet for her studies.

“I’m very proud and grateful for this achievement,” Indra said. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the help of my parents and teachers.”

SMP 1 Gianyar headmaster Anak Agung Gede Agung said this was the fourth time one of the school’s students had received a gold medal for highest exam scores, and attributed the success to the school’s partnership with private learning centers to provide additional courses for the students.

Bali Governor Mangku Pastika, attending the conference call at Jayasabha Hall in Denpasar, said his administration would award full senior high school scholarships to Yuli and Indra.

Another top scorer, Fitrian Dwi Rahayu from SMP 1 in Karanganyar, Central Java, who scored an average 99.5 percent, also received a call from Yudhoyono.

Meanwhile, East Java boasted the most schools in the top 100 for average exam scores, with student Bambang Agus Susetyo from Tulung Agung scoring 93.8 percent, enough for him to also get a call from the president.

“East Java has 43 schools, state and private, in the top 100,” Nuh said, adding Bali was second with 10 schools.

Critics of the country’s education system have long warned of a growing gap in education standards in the more-developed western provinces in Java and Sumatra, and the less-developed central and eastern provinces, including Bali.

Indonesian Independent Teachers Federation chairman Suparman said most schools outside Java lacked decent facilities, while access to schools was often limited.

“The government has vowed to re-evaluate the education system in light of the exam fiasco, but I doubt anything will change,” he said.

Last week, Nuh said the National Education Ministry would use the exam results to “assist regions in improving their [education] quality,” despite the fact that usually high-achieving provinces such as Jakarta posted the lowest pass rates this year.