ALOR STAR – The Education Ministry (MoE) 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 ministry wants to make the appropriate interventions to ensure better student attendance in the coming years.
“I think there are many factors, which must have been so urgent that the students had to miss their examinations. The matter needs to be examined, which will require time. We will make appropriate interventions."
“Whether the matter is a concern or not depends on the findings we get…this is because we have various candidates, not only under MoE schools, but also private candidates and so on,” she said when met after visiting SMJK Keat Hwa here today.
She said this when asked to comment on a report in a local newspaper today that a total of 14,858 or 3.8% of the 388,832 candidates that registered for the 2022 SPM examinations failed to show up.
Based on a MoE analysis, there was an increase in the number of SPM candidates who did not attend the examination last year, compared with the 2021 SPM, which recorded 10,681 or 2.7 per cent absent candidates out of a total of 392,837 registered candidates.
Meanwhile, Fadhlina said more than 90% of the candidates who sat for last year’s SPM obtained their certificates, compared with only 80% the previous year.
MoE’s focus is to further increase the percentage of candidates who obtain certificates, she added.
When asked about the proposed move to improve the History syllabus, Fadhlina said every subject taught in schools has its own cycle.
“The school curriculum is monitored by experts...as 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. – Bernama, June 11, 2023
