Education minister Radzi Jidin said the majority of them were private candidates.

“We are analysing the data and will check the trends from previous years. If there is a rising trend, we will decide on the appropriate measures to avoid recurrence in the future.

“We have to identify the reasons as the SPM 2021 cohort was the most affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he told a press conference after a visit to SMK Presint 18(1) here.

When announcing the SPM 2021 results today, education director-general Nor Zamani Abdol Hamid said 24,941 out of the total 407,097 registered candidates did not sit for the examination.

Asked about why the candidates chose not to sit for the examination, Radzi said some of them faced personal, family and financial problems.

However, he said school administrators had always approached students and families who were identified to have difficulties that could prevent them from sitting for their examinations, especially SPM.