KUALA LUMPUR: The National Grade Point Average (GPN) for 2020 Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) candidates is the country's best in five years, announced Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Mohd Radzi Jidin today.
In a special press conference this morning, Radzi said the 2020 SPM GPN had improved by 0.06 points, at 4.80 from 4.86 in 2019.
For the record, a lower value indicates better candidate achievement.
The analysis for the GPN is based on first-time SPM candidates with at least six subjects, and sat for at least one subject.
"The GPN for SPM 2020 is the best in five years. In 2016, the GPN was at 5.05, and improved to 4.90 in 2017.
"It then improved slightly in 2018 to 4.89, to 4.86 in 2019 and at 4.80 in 2020," he said.
Radzi also announced that the achievement gap between urban and rural students had narrowed to 0.38 in 2020 from 0.44 in 2019.
He also noted that the achievement of students in rural areas had improved by 0.08 from 5.14 in 2019, to 5.06 in 2020, while the results for students in urban areas also improved from 4.70 in 2019 to 4.68 in 2020.
The performance of five core subjects also improved in the 2020 SPM, including Mathematics, Science, History, Islamic Studies and Moral Education.
However, the performance of Bahasa Melayu and English had declined in 2020, compared to in 2019.
"The percentage of candidates who are eligible to be awarded the SPM certificate had also increased by 1.96 per cent from 86.72 per cent in 2019, to 88.68 per cent in 2020.
"There was also an increase in percentage among special needs candidates eligible to be awarded the SPM certificate, with a 6.88 per cent improvement from 2019 (61.34 per cent) to 2020 (68.22 per cent)," he added.