2017 BECE candidates to make history as free SHS policy kicks off

Last Friday, the candidates of the 2017 Basic Education Certificate Education (BECE) finished writing the examination which most JHS students dread so much and are often very anxious about.

This year’s BECE is very significant, as students who perform well will have the opportunity to enjoy the free SHS policy which the government will start implementing in September 2017 when first-year SHS students begin their secondary education.

Indeed, most JHS graduates are eager to enter SHS and this year the icing on the cake is that fresh students will not pay for their education — all they need to do is get the items required per the prospectus of their respective schools, as well as provisions, and head for school, determined to work hard to obtain excellent grades.

Obviously, it is not only BECE candidates and their parents and guardians who are excited about the nouveau policy; the entire nation is happy, since the implementation of the fee-free SHS policy will enable a very large number of JHS graduates whose education is cut short as a result of financial difficulties their parents face to access secondary education.

It is the hope of the Junior Graphic, whose readers are the beneficiaries of the policy, that all the necessary arrangements are made to ensure that when schools reopen for the next academic year, there will be no bottlenecks in the implementation of this great initiative.

Very often, when such widely popularised initiatives take off, there emerge certain teething problems and so it is crucial that the main actors, including the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service (GES), the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), parents, candidates, heads of SHSs, etc., all perform their duties and responsibilities very well, so that if there are any problems, they will not be the type that will prevent any prospective SHS student from enjoying the new policy this year.

As candidates patiently wait for their BECE results, it is hoped that fresh SHS students for the 2017 academic year will be very focused on their schoolwork for the nation to benefit from the huge investment to be made in their education.

All first-year SHS students will make history as the free-SHS policy kicks off across the country in September.