Global Courant
ALOR SETAR – The Malaysian Ministry of Education will investigate why 14,858 new candidates were absent from the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) 2022 examination.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek noted that the absent candidates made up 3.8 percent of a total of 388,832 candidates and said the ministry is investigating the appropriate mechanism to resolve the issue.
SPM, or the Malaysian Certificate of Education, is a national exam taken by all Form 5 students in Malaysia. It is the equivalent of the GCE O-level exam in Singapore.
Ms. Fadhlina said there could be several reasons why the students missed the exam.
“The ministry is looking into the factors so that we can identify (the reasons) and design a necessary intervention to improve turnout in the coming years,” she said.
Speaking to reporters in Jalan Kuala Kedah on Sunday, she said a trend from the previous year cannot be concluded until the findings are ready.
“There are different categories of candidates, such as those from Ministry of Education schools, private candidates and others. That’s why we need proper analysis to identify why this is happening,” she said.
Ms. Fadhlina added that more than 90 percent of SPM candidates were eligible to get their certificates, adding that the percentage is higher than previous years.
She added that there was no need to release the rankings for the top performing schools for SPM 2022.
It was reported that 14,858 or 3.8 percent of the 388,832 new applicants failed to show up for at least six subjects.
According to the ministry’s analysis, the number of absent candidates in 2021 was 10,681, or 2.7 percent of the 392,837 registered candidates. THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK
