By Anthony Adongo Apubeo
Bolgatanga, Oct 4, GNA-A total of 53 pregnant girls and 27 nursing mothers were among the candidates who took part in the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) across various municipalities and districts in the Upper East Region.
Additionally, 115 candidates made up of 54 boys and 61 girls who were registered to take part in the examination were absent.
Mr Giba Abraham Adoctor, the Upper East Regional Examination Officer of the Ghana Education Service, made this disclosure in an interview with the Ghana News Agency in Bolgatanga.
He said a total of 22,439 candidates made up of 10,587 boys and 11,852 girls from 694 schools were expected to write the BECE in 79 examination centres across the 15 Municipal and Districts in the region.
Out of the total number, 53 candidates were hearing impaired students from the Gbeogo School for the Deaf at Tongo in the Talensi District.
The Examination Officer explained that although no reasons were given for the absence of the 115 students, teenage pregnancy, early marriage, galamsey (illegal mining), death among others could be some of the factors.
The Bawku Municipal and Bawku West District which had the highest number of absentees with 15 and 19 students respectively could be attributed to the conflict and illegal mining happening in those areas.
He said the examination was successful and peaceful without major challenges such as malpractices and overcrowding.
“Most the centres were well ventilated and unlike the previous examinations, where we had some people loitering around the centres and tried to assist the candidates, this year we have not recorded such incidents,” he said.
GNA