KUALA LUMPUR – Today, 401,105 students nationwide will sit the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2020 examination while the country still faces the Covid-19 pandemic.
Besides having to be armed with pens and knowledge when entering the examination hall, the candidates are also required to bring their face shields to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.
Today, candidates will sit the Bahasa Melayu Kertas 1 and 2 papers, which start at 8am and 2pm, respectively.
Form Five students, including those sitting the Sijil Vokasional Malaysia (SVM) examination, are the first group to sit the SPM examination under the new norms.
A total of 3,310 SPM examination centres have been set up nationwide and disinfected in accordance with guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the National Security Council and Health Ministry.
Candidates are required to submit a completed health declaration form every day before entering the examination hall, besides having their temperatures taken and wearing masks for the duration of the examination.
Those who test positive for Covid-19 or are instructed to undergo quarantine because they are a close contact will not be allowed to sit the examination on that day, but must produce certified documents to enable them to sit for the rescheduled examination.
A total of 48,014 examination invigilators will be on duty to ensure that the SOPs are fully complied with during the examination period, scheduled to last until March 25.
The SPM candidates today are also the group of students who had to go through the longest annual SPM class session of almost 14 months as Covid-19 forced them to switch to online learning through applications such as Google Meet, Google Classroom and Skype.
The annual SPM, SVM and STAM examinations are usually held in November, but these 2020 examinations were deferred to January this year, and then to February due to the pandemic forcing the closure of schools. – Bernama, February 22, 2021
