PUTRAJAYA: Almost all 402,956 candidates registered to sit for the 2024 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) turned up for the Bahasa Melayu (BM) (Paper 1) on the first day of the written exams, says Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek.
As of 10am yesterday, candidates chalked up a 97% attendance rate, she said.
She added that these included candidates taking their exams in hospitals due to illness, as well as in relief centres in light of the floods in Kelantan, Terengganu, Kedah, Pahang, Johor and Sabah.
“This is a good attendance rate. There are still around 10,000 students whose attendance has yet to be confirmed.
“We want to improve the attendance rate and ensure that our students sit for the SPM.
“Should any incidents occur, particularly involving floods, we are ready to activate Ops Payung once again, (but) so far, everything remains under control,” she told a press conference.
SPM 2024, which began on Dec 2 last year with the oral examinations, ends on Feb 6.
The BM (Papers 1 and 2) and Visual Arts Education (Paper 1) were held at 3,337 examination centres nationwide yesterday.
The English Language and Tasawwur Islam written exams will be held next Monday.
A total of 126,636 invigilators were appointed to ensure the smooth management of the exams.
Fadhlina said the appointment of volunteer invigilators was subject to the specific criteria set by the ministry to prevent exam leaks and to reduce the burden on teachers.
“The appointment (of volunteer invigilators) process is 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 added.
