Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek says the 2025 SPM cohort’s success proves the effectiveness of educational interventions and student resilience.
KAJANG: The first cohort of students to sit for the Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) without undergoing the UPSR and PT3 examinations has demonstrated impressive resilience and achievement.
Education Minister Fadhlina Sidek said this generation, often discussed for its lack of early centralised exams, successfully overcame challenges including COVID-19 learning disruptions.
“I remember this is a cohort or a generation of children that is always discussed because they have not had any examinations before,” she told reporters after reviewing the SPM 2025 results.
She adopted a positive view, stating the results proved they are a generation with a high level of resilience.
Fadhlina said the success reflects the effectiveness of continuous interventions and support from the Ministry of Education and schools.
She noted the students endured various tests, including the pandemic, and proved their resilience was very high with the support of all interventions.
The experience of facing these challenges shaped the students’ strength to achieve good SPM results.
“Overall, they have proven that the tests have given them the strength to get very good results today,” she said.
Fadhlina added that her ministry would continue enhancing interventions to tackle absenteeism and strengthen support for SPM candidates.
Key focuses include ensuring student attendance, providing socio-economic support, and strengthening academic assistance through tuition and home visits.
She directed state and district education departments and schools to adopt an accountability approach to ensure attendance.
For this year, more steps are being identified to address the attendance issue closely linked to SPM.
The 2025 SPM results recorded the best achievement with a National Average Grade of 4.42, improving from 4.49 in 2024.
Education director-general Datuk Dr Mohd Azam Ahmad said 366,435 candidates, or 94.29%, were eligible for SPM certificates, up from 355,933 in 2024.
He also said 5,032 out of 413,299 candidates were absent, with factors including work, moving abroad, accidents, and family problems.
