Indonesian student misses science olympiad after power outage

Nadia Putri Muda Paramita, a fifth-grade student at SDN Gandasoli in Sukabumi, Indonesia, was left in tears after a power outage prevented her from completing the online National Science Olympiad (OSN) for elementary students. The incident occurred on Monday, June 8, during the final session of the exam, which was scheduled from 13:00 to 14:00 WIB.

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The power outage happened in the final minutes, about 15 or 20 minutes before the session was supposed to end. Initially, a student said their screen froze, then they were logged out. After managing to log back in and running for a few minutes, the electricity suddenly went out completely.

According to Isop Sopiah, the OSN supervisor at SDN Gandasoli, the exam had been proceeding smoothly until the final session. At approximately 13:45 WIB, the electricity suddenly cut out. Students initially experienced their screens freezing and some were logged out. When they managed to log back in, the power failed completely, plunging the classroom into darkness.

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I was just shocked, the students didn't expect it, and were confused. We calmed the students, saying 'Just wait, maybe there will be another policy or the lights will come back on.' But we waited for a while and it didn't come back on. So, we told them to just close their laptops and go home.

Despite waiting for three hours, the power did not return, forcing the school to instruct the students to close their laptops and go home. Isop expressed regret over the lack of notification from the electricity company (PLN) about the planned outage, leaving the school without backup power preparations. This failure has been described as a deeply painful experience for Nadia, who had dedicated six months to intensive study for the IPS (Social Studies) subject.

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When it first went out, I was okay, I thought it would be brief, but when I heard there were only 15 minutes left to finish the questions, I got a bit anxious. Especially since I had prepared for months, so I was actually quite panicked.

Nadia recounted her panic as the exam timer continued to run while her laptop screen was black. She had successfully answered 40 out of 60 questions before the outage. The OSN was a significant stepping stone for her aspirations to become a diplomat and make her parents proud. Despite her efforts to remain strong, Nadia holds onto the hope that the central committee will consider a re-exam for participants affected by uncontrollable technical issues like hers.

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I want the OSN to be held again. My goal for the OSN was to make my parents proud, I wanted to win so badly, so I prepared for months.