MOE aims to improve attendance of SPM candidates on exam day

ALOR SETAR: Appropriate interventions are needed to ensure better student attendance for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia in the coming years, says the Education Minister.

Fadhlina Sidek said the ministry (MOE) was studying the factors that contributed to the non-attendance of SPM students on examination day.

“I think there are many factors, which must be urgent to the extent that students had to miss the examination. 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 we get ... this is because we have various candidates, they are not only under the MOE schools, but also private candidates and so on,” she said when met after visiting SMKJ Keat Hwa here on Saturday, Bernama reported.

Fadhlina said this when asked to comment on a news report that a total of 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 MOE, there was an increase in the number of non- attendance last year compared to the 2021 SPM which recorded 10,681 or 2.7% absent candidates out of a total of 392,837 registered candidates.

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

The focus by the MOE was 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 ... 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 added.