The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has urged the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) candidates to prioritise their integrity by eschewing all forms of examination malpractices.
He encouraged them to see the examination as a normal academic assessment exercise, urging them to be confident and remain disciplined throughout the examination period.
Mr Iddrisu was speaking to candidates at the Techiman Senior High School (SHS) examination centre in Techiman in the Bono East Region, to assess their readiness and preparedness in the conduct of the ongoing BECE in the region.
"You are only to put your knowledge and skills acquired over the period to test. It should not look as if you did not prepare for this day," he said.
Visit
The minister also visited the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Girls SHS and the Kwarteng Ankomah SHS examination centres in the Techiman Metropolis and the Babatokuma M/A Basic School and the Kintampo SHS examination centres in the Kintampo Municipality.
Mr Iddrisu also engaged school authorities and invigilators, including the candidates, assuring them of the government's commitment to supporting them to succeed in their educational journey.
The minister was accompanied by the Bono East Regional Minister, Francis Owusu Antwi, the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Ernest Kofi Davis and the Regional Education Director, Kugbeadzor Batakeyi and other stakeholders in the education sector.
Examination malpractices
"Think about your dignity and shun cheating during the examination. Integrity is necessary. Any student engaged in examination malpractices will lose his or her dignity as a person.
"You can succeed with honesty, just have faith in your ability. You represent the future, the wealth and health of our dear nation," he said.
Mr Iddrisu expressed the government’s commitment and support to the candidates and schools’ management to facilitate a smooth examination.
“The government is committed to ensuring that every candidate participating in the examination is safe and undertaking the examination in a conducive environment or atmosphere," he said.
Mr Iddrisu explained that he visited the examination centres in the region to ensure that all the necessary logistics and administrative arrangements were in place.
He urged the candidates to work hard to book their place in the Free SHS programme.
Challenges
Mr Iddrisu said the visit had helped the visiting team to appreciate and identify challenges in some of the schools in the region.
He said he had identified a lack of lighting system impeding visibility, inadequate furniture and the deplorable state of some school infrastructure in the region.
Mr Iddrisu pledged the government's commitment to swiftly intervene to resolve the challenges to improve teaching and learning.
"This visit has exposed us to issues the government must urgently address in schools," he said.
Statistics
A total of 20,560 candidates from 724 public and private schools are expected to participate in this year's BECE exercise in the Bono East Region.
The candidates are made up of 10,372 females and 10,189 males.
The examination will be held at 80 centres across the region.
Similarly, in the Bono Region, 24,170 candidates from 805 public and private schools, including prisoners are participating in the examination.
They are 12,345 females and 11,774 males.
