Education ministry studying factors in no-show of SPM candidates

The education ministry is studying the factors that contributed to the non-attendance of Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) students on their examination day.

Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said the move was to enable the ministry to make appropriate interventions, to ensure better student attendance in the coming years.

"I think there are many factors, which must be urgent to the extent that the students had to miss the examination. So the matter needs to be examined, which will require time, and we will make appropriate interventions.

"Whether the matter is a concern or not, it depends on the findings… this is because we have various candidates. They are not only under ministry schools, there are also private candidates and so on," she said when met after visiting SMJK Keat Hwa in Alor Setar yesterday.

She said this when asked to comment on a report stating that 14,858 or 3.8% of the 388,832 candidates who registered for the 2022 SPM did not attend the examination.
 
Based on an analysis by the education ministry, there was an increase in the number of SPM candidates who did not attend the examination last year, compared to the 2021 SPM which saw 10,681 or 2.7% absent candidates out of a total of 392,837 registered candidates.

Meanwhile, Fadhlina said more than 90% of the candidates who sat for the SPM last year obtained their certificate, compared to 80% the previous year.

The ministry's focus is to further increase the percentage of candidates who obtain the certificate, she added.

When asked about the proposed move to improve the history syllabus, Fadhlina said every subject taught in schools had its own cycle.

"The school curriculum is monitored by experts... for now, it will remain as it is until the cycle ends and when the time comes, the ministry will look into all subjects, not only history," she said.