SPM 2020: 401,105 candidates to sit for examination under new normal beginning today

Besides armed with pens and knowledge when entering the examination hall, the SPM 2020 candidates are also required to bring their face shield to prevent the spread of the deadly virus.

For today, the candidates will sit for the Bahasa Melayu Kertas 1 and 2 papers, which start at 8 am and 2 pm, respectively.

The Form Five students, including those sitting for the Sijil Vokasional Malaysia (SVM) examination, are the first group to sit for the SPM examination under the new normal circumstances.

A total of 3,310 SPM examination centres have been set up nationwide and disinfected in accordance with the guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the National Security Council and the Ministry of Health.

Candidates would be required to submit a completed health declaration form every day before they enter the examination hall, besides having their body temperatures taken and wearing face masks for the duration of the examination.

Those who tested positive for COVID-19 or are instructed to undergo quarantine because they are close contact, will not be allowed to sit for the examination on that day, but they must produce certified documents to enable them to sit for the rescheduled examination.

A total of 48,014 examination invigilators will be on duty to ensure that the prescribed SOPs are fully complied with during the examination period scheduled to last until March 25.

The SPM candidates today are also the group of students who had to go through the longest annual SPM class session of almost 14 months because the COVID-19 forced them to switch to online learning through applications such as Google Meet, Google Classroom and Skype.

The annual SPM, SVM and STAM examinations are usually held in November, but these 2020 examinations were deferred to January 2021 and then to February 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic that forced the closure of schools.

-- BERNAMA