By Godfred A. Polkuu
Bolgatanga, Oct 14, GNA-The Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Upper East Region, says candidates for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Bawku Municipality will part-take in the examination together with their colleagues across the country.
The Service said even though the total number of candidates in Bawku dropped from 2,206 comprising 969 males and 1,237 females last year to 1815 comprising 794 males and 1021 females, adequate preparations had been done to ensure the examination was conducted successfully.
Mr Nathaniel N-yaaba, the Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the GES told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that “As a Region, we are ready for this year’s BECE. For those in Bawku, we just hope that things will be calm for a successful examination.”
He said the Bawku Municipal Education Directorate had made adequate preparations, including the creation of more Examination Centres to prevent candidates from going through restricted areas in the town.
He said candidates in the area, just like their colleagues across the Region and the entire country, wrote mock examinations successfully and indicated that “The Directorate had made provisions to ensure smooth movement of materials to all centres.”
Speaking on the total number of registered candidates in the entire Region, the PRO said a total of 19,999 candidates comprising 9,999 males and 10,000 females, from both public and private basic schools across all 15 Municipalities and Districts would write the week-long BECE which comes off from October 17 to 21.
The Bolgatanga Municipality he said, registered 2,847 candidates which is the highest number in Region, followed by the Kassena-Nankana Municipalities with 1,946 registered candidates.
Mr N-yaaba said candidates across the Region were taught how to answer examination questions, and conduct themselves during the examination.
He noted that there were some candidates with special needs, and the Directorate had communicated to the West African Examination Council (WAEC) for support for such students, “Some will need extra time, large prints, speech reading, and others will need aid to shade.”
Mr N-yaaba explained that candidates with cerebral palsy, for instance, would need extra time, those with visual impairment would need large prints to enable them to read the questions and answer adequately while those with hearing impairment would need speech reading to support them.
He emphasized that provision had been made for all candidates to enable them to write successfully, and admonished candidates to prepare well for the examination, remain calm and not engage in any form of examination malpractice.
He urged parents and guardians not to allow their children to travel after the examination saying, “For now, they should not travel because sensitization and the school selection process will come on after the examination, so when they travel, it will affect them.”
GNA