BECE progresses in regions

THE 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) started across the country on Monday with a total of 602,457 final year Junior High School (JHS) students registering to write the examination.

The total candidature represents an increase of 49,049 over last year's figure of 553,408.

From the Upper East Region, Gilbert Mawuli Agbey reports that a total of 22,431 candidates were taking part in the region.

Out of the total number, 10,578 are males while the remaining 11,853 are females who are writing from across the 79 examination centres in the region.

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Nathaniel Nyaaba, said the candidates had been adequately prepared to take part in the examination.

He cautioned them against engaging in examination malpractices since anyone who would be caught would be dealt with, saying “the school pupils have been adequately prepared and do not need to cheat in the examination”.

Bawku situation

Due to increased insecurity in the Bawku municipality, four centres have been created at Bawku Senior High, Bawku Senior High Technical, Winamzua cluster of schools and Kuka Natinga basic school for the 1,989 candidates to write the examination.

In 2022, 1,815 candidates sat for the examination in the municipality, but the figure increased by 174 candidates this year.

Comfort zone

In an interview the Municipal Director of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Azeriya Ayeriga, said the move was to enable the students to write the final examination within their comfort zones due to the security situation in the area.

Despite the situation, he indicated that the pupils were psychologically and mentally prepared to write the examination, stressing “as a directorate, we are optimistic that the pupils will put the insecurity in the area aside and confidently write the examination to come out with good results”.

Some of the candidates in Bolgatanga who were in high spirits were optimistic of getting excellent results to pursue further studies at the senior high school level.

Tamale

From Tamale, Mohammed Fugu reports that a total of  31,534 candidates from  698 public and private schools are writing the BECE in the Northern Region. Out of the number, 16,528 are boys while 15,006 are girls.

The Northern Regional Minister, Shani Alhassan Shaibu, on Monday morning toured a number of the centres to monitor the examination and interacted with the candidates.

He visited the Ghana Senior High School (GHANASCO), Savelugu Senior High School (SAVESS) and the Tamale Islamic Senior High School centres; he was accompanied by some officials of the GES.

As of 9 am, the examination was ongoing smoothly across all the centres. No incident had been recorded in all the centres visited.

Mr Shaibu advised the candidates against examination malpractices since anyone caught in such act would be dealt with.

"Do not copy from others. They might be writing the wrong things. Try your best to write what you have learnt," he advised.

Koforidua

From Koforidua, the Eastern Regional capital, Haruna Yussif Wunpini reports that a total of 2,488 candidates made up of 1,166 males and 1,322 females in the New Juaben South Municipality are taking part in this year's examination.

The number also included private candidates as well as 13 persons with disabilities.

The Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) for New Juaben South, Isaac Appaw-Gyasi who addressed the candidates advised them not to panic but feel free while answering the questions.

He told the candidates that they should not rush but take time to understand the questions before answering them.

The MCE appealed to the candidates to work hard to secure good results to enable them to enjoy the government's free senior high school (SHS) programme.

"You are the future leaders of this country. The only way some of you can climb high the academic ladder is to excel first in the examination and automatically advance to the SHS," Mr Appaw-Gyasi stated.

Mr Appaw-Gyasi entreated BECE candidates in the municipality to desist from examination malpractices and also urged them not to go into the examination halls with foreign materials or other objects.

The Municipal Education Director, Mustapha Haruna, asked the candidates to concentrate on their writing and desist from copying from their colleagues.