MORE than 70,000 students failed to obtain their SPM certificates last year.
Of this number, 15,000 students did not sit or were absent while 55,000 students sat for the exam and did not get the certificate.
To obtain an SPM certificate, a student has to score at least a credit and a pass in Bahasa Malaysia and History respectively, with both subjects being compulsory papers.
To get a credit, the student must score at least 50 out of 100 marks to get a C.
The minimum passing mark for a subject is 40 to get an E. Anything below is considered a fail or an F.
A normal average student should be able to get an SPM certificate under normal circumstances.
However, when so many fail to get the SPM certificate and many others were absent, it begs the question of why this is so and needs to be seriously looked into.
Many have jumped on the bandwagon in assuming that the poor performance is due to students not having gone through the UPSR and PMR exams which have been abolished.
Many feel that since these students did not get exposure to UPSR and PMR, they were not geared to face the SPM exams. They lacked the ability to answer.
Students not attending public exams and students failing them are nothing new.
There have been absentees and failures in SPM when students went through UPSR and PMR.
A vast majority of these students who were absent and failed the exams are not academically inclined.
They are the misfits of education who have, not by their merit but through our schooling system, found themselves moving on from one class level to another.
Even during the UPSR, children who failed all subjects would still be promoted to Form One and during the PMR exams, children who obtained a minimum pass would be promoted to Form Four.
Every year when Year Six children progress to Form One, it is common for Form One teachers to lament over the illiteracy problem of Year Six children.
It is baffling how a 12-year-old has not learned to read and write after spending six years in primary school.
Many of these children cannot read and write in their own language, whether it is Bahasa Malaysia or English.
Their attention span for learning is short and they have no love for books.
They are in school because of the system which gives them free academic education until Form Five.
And when the day of reckoning comes for them to take the SPM exam, these students are either absent or they fail.
These non-academically inclined students know their potential and abilities.
It is sad when these students confer with you about their inability to study, read and learn.
As such, they absent themselves to save themselves from the embarrassment of failing.
It is better to be absent than to fail the examination.
Some go through the SPM exams and come out feeling depressed and defeated.
During the exams, some spend time scribbling, drawing or rewriting the comprehension text from the question paper.
When I was a marker for the SPM English essay and summary paper, I used to come across at least 50 to 100 answer papers from students who did not attempt the question.
The students would just hand in empty answer papers and examiners would mark them as NA – No Attempt. Other students would write three or four pages of answers.
When SPM students fail or are absent from examinations, it is a clear failure of our education system in addressing the needs, abilities and talents of these non-academic students who are just not adept at learning academic subjects.
There are visible signs of potential school dropouts such as poor attendance, low grades on school tests, sleeping in class and disciplinary problems.
The Education Ministry needs to implement vocational and technical subjects, and other skill training programmes for lower secondary students who are not academically inclined.
Primary schools need to ensure that children are able to read and write when they move on to secondary school.
The education system has to be revamped to accommodate these students so that their energy could be channelled to useful pursuits while reaping their full potential.
Samuel Yesuiah
Seremban
