The Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia (SPM) examination for this year started today throughout the country with the Bahasa Melayu 1 and 2 papers.

A total of 440,682 candidates have registered to sit for the papers at 3,501 examination centres till Dec 8.

Of the total, 379,466 are from government schools, government-aided schools and religious schools aided by the government while 29,799 are private candidates.

A total of 34,146 invigilators have been appointed to ensure the important examination goes smoothly.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak in a Twitter post yesterday wished all the candidates success in the examination.