PUTRAJAYA: The attendance rate of those sitting for the 2024 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) has reached 97% as of 10am on Thursday (Jan 2), says Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.
“This is a good attendance rate, but we are still in the process of updating the figures.
“There are still around 10,000 students whose attendance has yet to be identified and confirmed. Therefore, we hope to improve attendance to ensure our students sit for the SPM examination," she said at a special press conference on the 2024 SPM examination operations here today.
A total of 402,956 candidates have registered to sit for the SPM 2024 examinations, which began on Dec 2, 2024, and will continue until Feb 6 this year at 3,337 examination centres nationwide.
The Bahasa Melayu (BM) and Visual Arts Education written exams will be held today, followed by the English Language and Tasawwur Islam papers next Monday (Jan 6).
Fadhlina also said the appointment of volunteer invigilators was subject to the specific criteria set by the Education Ministry to avoid any exam leaks including efforts to reduce the burden on teachers.
"We are taking full note of the preparations for their appointment (volunteer invigilators) which are very strict. So far there have been no problems. We have achieved our goal of 20% of volunteer invigilators in each state for the 2024 SPM exams,” she said.
Previously, the Education Ministry said that 126,636 invigilators have been appointed to ensure the smooth management of the examinations.
According to Fadhlina, there are also candidates identified to be taking their examinations in hospitals due to illness, as well as in relief centres in light of the flooding issue in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang, Johor and Sabah.
She said that the Education Ministry’s deputy education minister Wong Kah Woh, education director-general Azman Adnan, education secretary-general Datuk Ruji Ubi and all the state education department directors had gone on the field to ensure the preparedness and welfare of the SPM candidates.
“Should any incidents occur, particularly involving floods, we are ready to activate OPS Payung once again.
“These are among the at-risk states we have identified, and so far, everything remains under control,” she added.
