KUCHING: Sarawak has recorded its best Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) performance in over a decade, with the State Average Grade (GPN) improving to 4.79 in 2025 from 4.84 in 2024.
The 0.05-point improvement marks the best GPN achieved since Bahasa Melayu (BM) and History were made compulsory pass subjects in 2013.
State Education Department (JPNS) director Omar Mahli said that while this was the best achievement in more than 10 years, the percentage of candidates eligible for the SPM certificate dipped slightly from 94.11 per cent to 93.99 per cent.
“However, the total number of successful candidates increased compared to 2024.
“A total of 31,506 candidates qualified for the SPM certificate in 2025, compared to 30,341 in 2024,” he said during a media conference on the overall SPM 2025 state-level results at the Sarawak Education Department here today (Mar 31).
He added that the slight drop in certificate eligibility was mainly due to Sejarah, not BM.
“A total of 1,858 candidates failed Sejarah, compared to only 655 in BM which contributed to the marginal dip in eligibility,” he added.
Omar said that targeted interventions for Sejarah had been introduced last year, including special modules to assist weaker students, but the efforts had not fully achieved the desired impact.
“This year, we will continue to focus more on improving student performance in Sejarah,” he said.
He also highlighted that the GPN showed improvement across both urban and rural areas.
Urban candidates recorded a GPN of 4.44 in 2025 compared to 4.46 in 2024, while rural candidates improved to 5.03 from 5.11, narrowing the performance gap between urban and rural students.
In terms of subject performance, 48 out of 79 subjects showed improvement, 26 declined, and five remained unchanged.
Among core subjects, Pendidikan Islam recorded the highest improvement, followed by Mathematics, English, and Science.
Of the 34,166 candidates registered from Ministry of Education schools, 33,519 sat for the examination, while 647 (1.93 per cent) were absent for all papers.
SPM 2025 candidates can view their results at myresultspm.moe.gov.my or via SMS at 15888 by sending SPM followed by their MyKad number and SPM candidate number.
Both methods are accessible until 6pm on Apr 6.
