"I WILL pinch you tomorrow night". The SMS certainly sounded strange. But after years of teaching a brass band at a Salvation Army Boys Home in Medan in my spare time, I did not find it particularly unusual.

Mr Lasnointer Marbun, an enthusiastic band member and former Boys Home resident, met me at Medan’s Polonia Airport the following evening. "Pinch means meet," he told me.

Mr Lasnointer, whose ambition is to study music at Singapore’s Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts, has recently been taking English lessons. But students at the private language school he has chosen see few opportunities to engage in conversation or have their errors corrected. The photocopied textbook focuses instead on memorising grammatical rules. Well, at least he got that part of the SMS right.

Indonesians study English as a compulsory subject in secondary school until the age of 18. The pass rate in national examinations is generally high. Yet only two of the 32 members in the brass band in Medan can read simple English or carry on a basic conversation in the language

As the national exam season got under way this week, the focus of the local media has been on the need for tight supervision to prevent cheating. Every year, advance copies of exam papers in various subjects somehow become available to those with the money to pay. And during the exam, many teachers routinely hand out answer sheets to their students to ensure they do well.

Just how widespread such practices are was revealed in 2009 when thousands of students from 34 schools across eight provinces were found to have used an answer key bought from a local syndicate. In that case the answers turned out to be wrong, and the students who used them failed.

If cheating was the only problem afflicting English-language teaching in Indonesia, then stricter enforcement of exam regulations would probably be the only thing required. Unfortunately, the malaise is far more serious. Even those responsible for teaching the subject do not seem to know what they are doing.

Last week, the Indonesian media reported that the official answer key of a test prepared by the Ministry of Education and used by examiners to grade students contained numerous errors. The English-language Jakarta Globe published the following sample question:

"I expect you could do with a cup of tea, couldn’t you? Do you take milk and sugar?" To this, students were required to select one of the following options:

A. Only if you’re having one.
B. Please do. You’ve hardly eaten anything.
C. No, thank you. I’ve had too much already.
D. No, really thank you.

Leaving aside the questionable grammar in option D, it is difficult to know how students are expected to respond. There are two questions, not one. And there seems to be no pressing reason why C – the official answer – makes any more sense than A.

Asked about the alleged errors in the answer key, an official in the Jakarta Education Office dodged responsibility: "The exam is drafted by many parties, including teams of school officials and academic experts. What we do is just legalise it."

Little wonder then, that both government and private organisations are increasingly seeking alternative ways to assess the language proficiency of potential employees.

Three of Indonesia’s four largest banks now use the Test of English for International Communication to assess new employees. This exam is drawn up by the Educational Testing Service (ETS), a non-profit organisation based in the United States.

Unfortunately, not all such attempts to find an objective measure of English proficiency are appreciated.

In an open letter to President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono distributed to the media in January, disaffected staff from the Investment Coordinating Board complained that chairman Gita Wiryawan’s insistence that staff obtain a score of 600 in the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) was excessive. TOEFL is another exam administered by ETS.

Mr Lasnointer is aiming for a TOEFL score of 500. This level is often considered to be equal to a pass in O-level English, for the purpose of admission to tertiary-level courses in Singapore.

Given the relative ease with which those proficient in English can obtain good jobs or gain access to foreign tertiary institutions, middle- and upper-class parents in Indonesia are willing to pay substantial sums for their children to be taught by properly qualified teachers in private schools.

Mr Marbun's underprivileged background means he does not have that opportunity. But he is also lucky to have found a sponsor willing to help him try to overcome the disadvantage.

Most Indonesians have little choice but to struggle with a deeply flawed education system that does them few favours.