Chronology Of Disabilities Asked To Remove Hearing Aid Devices When UTBK At UI Declared Failed To Enter PTN

JAKARTA - A vocational school student in South Tangerang (Tangsel) named Naufal Athallah who was asked to take off his hearing aid (ABD) during the Computer-Based Writing Examination (UTBK) at the University of Indonesia (UI) was declared to have failed to enter the National Higher Education (PTN).

Naufal recounted what happened when he was asked to remove the hearing aid during UTBK at UI on May 14.

It started when he was memorizing the formulas of Math lessons before starting UTBK at UI. He admitted that he heard that three people were talking about it, because they used hearing aids.

For a moment, he was about to enter the classroom, he asked the committee about the hearing aid whether it was permissible or not to use it during the exam.

"I want to enter the exam room, I have permission to ask the committee if I can take the exam using a hearing aid, I am deaf," said Naufal when met at his school, SMK 2 Pondok Aren, South Tangerang, Saturday, June 22.

"Ask the committee, he answered 'later when the exam is taking off, so I took it off, I'm afraid I won't be able to take the exam, UTBK results won't come out because there is a suspicious tool, I took off the hearing aid, I put my bag, I went to the exam table," he continued.

After that, the committee gave directions regarding the implementation of the exam, Naufal also admitted that he was confused. Because the hearing aid has been requested to be released, he cannot hear anything related to the direction given by the committee.

"There was a briefing before the exam, I didn't wear a hearing aid, I felt confused, but I didn't hear anything, the committee said. I started to focus on reading the committee's lips, I was a bit confused what the committee said," he said.

After the start of the UTBK, Naufal admitted that when working on exam questions, it became difficult. Because of losing focus due to the released hearing aid. Because there was a sound that resulted in losing focus.

"If you don't use a hearing aid, my balance goes down, so you don't seem to focus, there's a sound," he said.

Moreover, the question of the test is different from what Naufal has been studying so far. This adds to the difficulty of working on the computer-based writing exam.

"I'm not focused. The problem is also different but I'm still working on it, I forgot the formula, what I read came out, I focused on reading prayers, I lost direction," he said.

As a result of this incident, the value obtained was not too high. So he failed to enter the UI college

On the occasion, Naufal hoped that UTBK in 2025, for people with disabilities, it would be easier not to need to remove their aids.

"Hopefully for UTBK 2025, I hope there will be an option for people with disabilities. I don't mind using hearing aids, so that I can focus on doing it, be careful. Because if it is released, the balance will decrease," he said.