SHAH ALAM, June 14 — The Ministry of Education (MOE) will conduct a detailed study as to why some students did not sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination last year, said its Minister Fadhlina Sidek.
She said the results of the full study would be shared, including intervention measures, to ensure that the problem of SPM candidates not sitting for the examination could be overcome.
“This is an old problem, only this time we want to ensure candidates are present and sit for the examination,” she told reporters after attending the launch of the ‘Konvesyen Islam dan Melayu: Karamah Insansiah Teras Pembentukan Jati Diri Umat’, here, today.
Fadhlina was reported to have said on June 11 that 14,858 or 3.8 per cent of the 388,832 SPM 2022 candidates were not present to sit for the examination.
Based on the MOE’s analysis, the number of candidates who did not attend to sit for the SPM 2022 examination was higher compared to 2021, which saw 10,681 out of the 392,837 registered candidates not turning up.
On the issue of SPM students not furthering their studies, Fadhlina said her ministry is looking into the matter with several other relevant ministries.
“This matter requires synergy with other ministries and should be welcomed by the industry to ensure they have direction in education including in the field of technical and vocational education and training (TVET),” she said.
On the matter of some teachers choosing to retire early, she said the MOE will work with the Education Service Commission to train more teachers to ensure that the projected number of educators is achieved.
“We also made this projection with the Ministry of Higher Education and Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris to overcome the issue of teacher shortage in a short period,” she said.