The Sabah government has expressed concern over the 5,686 students who failed to attend the 2022 Sijil Perlajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination. Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor has called on the Education Department to identify the reasons behind this alarming figure.
In Sabah, out of the 40,147 registered students, only 34,461 actually sat for the SPM 2022 exam. Hajiji Noor emphasized the importance of the SPM examination for the future of students and their educational journey.
“Education is a right for all, and it is essential for our children’s future. Therefore, we need to address this issue seriously,” said the Chief Minister while presenting state scholarship awards to the top 40 SPM students at the 34th edition of the Sabah Scholarship Awards organized by Yayasan Sabah.
Hajiji Noor further highlighted that although there was a slight improvement in the National Average Grade (GPN) of SPM results in Sabah, with a decrease from 5.35 points in 2021 to 5.22 points in 2022, the state still lags behind the national GPN of 4.74.
Additionally, he expressed concern about the widening gap between urban and rural areas in terms of SPM performance. The gap increased from 0.53 points in 2021 to 0.61 points in 2022.
“The State Government is deeply concerned about this issue, and we must thoroughly examine the causes of these weaknesses,” Hajiji Noor stated.
Sabah Education Department director Raisin Saidin, who was present at the event, assured reporters that they would conduct investigations to determine why these students did not attend the examination. He further mentioned that measures, such as visiting their homes, would be taken to gather the necessary information.
Explaining some of the reasons behind students not attending the exam, Raisin Saidin shared that a few cases included students who were pregnant and felt too ashamed to turn up, while others had gotten married or simply lacked interest in sitting for the examination.
According to a report by the Education Ministry, nearly 30,000 students did not sit for the SPM 2022 examinations, with around 10,000 of them being students who had registered for re-sitting the exams.
Credit: The Star : News Feed
