Help children to profitably use their time

On Friday, November 19, Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates successfully ended the examination and are currently home with their West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) counterparts, who completed theirs some seven weeks ago.

The Daily Graphic congratulates the BECE candidates on comporting themselves, making this year's examination one of the problem-free examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in recent times.

We would like to remind them that just as they comported themselves during the examination, it is important for them to exhibit the same level of comportment while at home.

The WASSCE, on the other hand, faced a number of challenges, leading to the scheduling of two of the papers to a later date.

Be it as it were, while the candidates are waiting for the results of the WASSCE and the BECE, we encourage parents to occupy them by making them learn vocations of their choice, attend computer or music classes or engage them in activities that will keep them busy within this time.

It is surely not enough to provide these children with food and leave them alone in the house because, as the adage says: "The devil finds work for idle hands."

Leaving these children all alone in the house is a recipe for disaster, as they can easily be swayed by their peers into various social vices. Peer pressure, definitely, is a big issue at their level.

We must help them while they wait for the next stage of their educational pursuits. There have been reported cases in the past of girls who were awaiting the results of their external examinations getting pregnant because they fell into bad company.

For the BECE, except for a few pockets of misconduct by some officials and teachers, whose responsibility it was to ensure that the examination was written devoid of any malpractice, generally the examination was successful.

The Daily Graphic wishes to commend WAEC for ensuring that the BECE was written smoothly without any major hiccup.

We also commend all the examination officials, such as supervisors, invigilators, assistant invigilators and security personnel at the various examination centres, who performed their roles professionally to ensure the smooth conduct of the examination.

Also deserving commendation are the Ghana Police Service, the National Security and the security officials of WAEC for their collaborative effort, which led to the apprehension of some unpatriotic examination officials and teachers who engaged in examination malpractice.

While commending the police for apprehending the culprits, we wish to urge them to process the nation wreckers for court for the law to take its course.

We also urge WAEC to replicate the measures put in place for the smooth take-off and completion of the BECE in the various examinations it conducts, especially the WASSCE.

We believe that flawless examinations are crucial to ensure that certificates given to our candidates are credible and acceptable in every jurisdiction.

Let's ensure that, together we protect the integrity and sanctity of the certificates issued to our candidates.