JOHOR BARU: The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examinations will continue as scheduled even though Jan 6 has been declared a holiday for civil servants in Johor.
State education and information committee chairman Aznan Tamin said the Johor government agreed to grant an extra holiday on Jan 6 to mark the shift to a Saturday-Sunday weekend.
“Even though public schools will be closed on Monday as a special replacement holiday for civil servants in the state, the SPM examinations will go on as scheduled. We do not want to disturb the SPM students sitting for such important examinations.
“Teachers and civil servants involved in SPM will be given replacement leave after the examinations are over,” said Aznan after visiting SMK Agama Johor Baru yesterday.
He said a total of 49,980 candidates would sit for the written SPM examinations at 376 centres, including 306 schools.
Aznan expects schools in the state to record good attendance today, which is the first Friday of this year that students will be going to school following the change to Johor’s rest days.
“For schools that have two sessions, the morning session will end at noon while the afternoon session will start at 2.30pm to 2.45pm.
Fuelling success: Aznan (in green) with Johor Jaya assemblyman Liow Cai Tung (left) giving words of encouragement to SPM candidates during their visit to a school. — THOMAS YONG/The Star
“Some schools have been given permission to hold Friday prayers for Muslim students and teachers at the school surau,” he added.
Yesterday, an official circular about the replacement holiday was issued by the Johor State Secretary Office’s Human Resources Management Depart–ment. The circular states that the replacement holiday is due to the transition period between the last week of 2024 and the first week of 2025, in which civil servants will be working for six days, including Friday.
It is learnt that schools will also be closed on that day, but the special holiday will not affect the ongoing SPM examinations.
On Oct 7, Johor Regent Tunku Ismail Sultan Ibrahim announced that the state would change its weekends to Saturday and Sunday.
This followed the consent and blessings from His Majesty Sultan Ibrahim, King of Malaysia, and after considering the views of the Johor Islamic Religious Council, he added.
This ends the 11-year period in which Johor observed Friday and Saturday as its official rest days since Jan 1, 2014.
The change was implemented following a decree from Sultan Ibrahim in conjunction with his 55th birthday celebration on Nov 23, 2013.
This adjustment marked a reversion to the state’s original weekend during its days as an Unfederated Malay State.
Johor only switched to a Saturday and Sunday weekend in 1994 during Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s tenure as mentri besar.
