10 June 2021... this is the day that many of us have been waiting for with bated breath. Today was the day that the SPM 2020 results would be announced. This was not like the result announcements of previous years, only because the SPM 2020 exam candidates had to go through what none of their seniors had before -- a year full of challenges adjusting to the new norms in the wake of a global pandemic named the Coronavirus Disease 2019, better known as COVID-19. Not long after the academic year started in January 2020, the whole country went into lockdown when the students were midway through their mid-term break in March. Then, both teachers and students had to adjust to online learning with almost non-existent knowledge and experience in this area. This was especially hard for Form 5 students who would be sitting for their SPM exam by the end of the year, and double pressure on the teachers to deliver their lessons as effectively as how they did in physical classes, so that students would not be left behind in their studies and lose out in the exams. Teachers scrambled to master the various online tools that were available to help them do their job well. On the other end, students struggled with internet connectivity problems, lack of devices and a difficult test of self-discipline due to the newfound freedom that learning from home offered. Thankfully, the government allowed SPM exam candidates to return to school in June, and postponed SPM to January 2021. Teachers were more able to teach and coach the students more effectively in person. Many people had been worried that the average and weak students would not do well in the exam, because they were not as motivated or disciplined as the smarter students, and many of them had not been attending online lessons, and would rather sleep or play online games at home. There was no way for teachers to punish students who did not submit their work online either. And since webcams were disabled most of the time during online classes, there was no way for teachers to know whether students were really paying attention on their end. Shy students would also refrain from asking questions or giving feedback online, making it very difficult for teachers to assess their level of comprehension.
From June to November, students got to attend physical classes, but they had to adjust to new norms in school as well. Classes were split into two as each class could only be 20 pax due to physical distancing measures. Interaction in class was limited and students were not allowed to be physically close with one another. Facial masks had to be worn at all times, and sanitisers encouraged to be used regularly. Even going to the canteen or the toilet required strict SOPs. In the midst of intense preparation for the most important exam in their secondary school life, students had to adjust to this new norm, which brought a certain amount of frustration and stress. For Phase 2, classes were combined again, but the closer seating put more pressure on both teachers and students to observe the SOPs in order not to cause an infection cluster in the school. Any breach of SOPs would result in a harsh reprimand from discipline teachers or the school administrators, if they happened to witness it. Then, as a new spike in cases occurred in November, schools were abruptly closed again and it was back to online classes again until end of the year. SPM was postponed again to February 2021. Imagine having to deal with all these distractions while preparing for such an important exam.
This batch of students finally sat for their exam from February to March 2021. I guess teachers, students and parents alike were relieved that it was not postponed again, even with COVID cases slowly on the rise. Everyone just wanted to finish the race, so to speak. This was followed by online marking of their exam papers, a first ever initiative again in this new norm. That presented a whole new lot of hurdles -- which I will not mention here -- so much so that there was growing doubt that results would be announced in June 2021 as was previously planned. Well, I would say that after a year of uncertainties and abrupt changes of plans, I felt rather surprised that the SPM results were confirmed to be announced on time! Everyone was interested to know the results... poor results would surely invite a lot of backlash about the various shortcomings of online learning, and criticisms towards the Education Ministry for not handling the situation better.
For a high-performing school like mine, students really aim high, so they were extremely worried that all the difficulties of the previous years would affect their results. In fact, many of them were aiming for straight As. Anything less than that would be devastating. I as one of the Form Five teachers was also eager to know the results, as I wanted to see whether all the hard work had actually paid off. Finally, at 10 a.m., the results were finally revealed. SMJK Sam Tet showed overall improvement compared to previous years. Although overall passing rate dropped slightly from 91.34% to 91.29%, our average grade point improved by 0.23 to 3.54, and percentage of excellent increased to 11.41% from the previous 10.5%.
As an English teacher, of course my greatest concern was the result of the English subject. Good news! We had 98.19% passes (only 6 students failed), and it was the best result in the past 5 years! Out of 332 students, a total of 158 students got A (41 A+, 75 A, 42 A-), and our average grade point improved from 3.27 to 3.06. Needless to say, the English Panel was in a celebratory mood today. Time to give ourselves a little pat on the back for a job well done. Of course, with this result, I won't be surprised if our next target will be 99% to 100% passes for SPM 2021, which is of course postponed to February 2022 (schools are closed again as we are in the midst of a third nationwide lockdown).
Later on, I learned that on the national level, the SPM results this year are the best since 2016, which means most of the schools in the country saw improvements in their results as well. This took some of my initial joy away, since Sam Tet's achievement was not unique to us alone, but was part of a national trend. I think this news took some of us by surprise, as it was widely agreed that online lessons were less effective than physical classes. Teachers, students and parents all agreed on this. And yet, with half the year spent on online classes, students managed to produce the best result in the past 5 years? Either the Examinations Board was more lenient in grading (maybe for political reasons, to avoid any unwanted criticisms), or online lessons actually yield better results than physical classes. In that case, maybe we should not go back to school, or if we do (which we will, eventually) teachers should cut down on teaching students in-person. Maybe we teachers are the problem all along! Haha... one year of being in the new norm, and results are better than ever? But then, there is another reason, and that is that students had more time to prepare for the exam, since they had more schooldays than previous years (year-end holiday started in late December rather than mid November) and they had 3 months more for revision than their seniors. Well, I'd rather be optimistic and pick the third reason. At least then we can all be happy that we earned the results through our hard work and determination, having made full use of the extra study days. With all that being said, I think that the best thing to do is to continue to work hard to improve, and hopefully next year, we as teachers can help our students to reach for their highest potential, and achieve our target of at least 99% passes. After all, getting the best results for themselves is an effective confident booster before sending them out into the real world. In the end, it is not the results that matter, but the building of character and reinforcing positive life principles like diligence, patience and determination. Preparing students for life -- isn't that the ultimate purpose of an educator?
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