By Naa Shormei Odonkor
Koforidua, July 5, GNA – About 68 special students comprising the visually and hearing impaired from four schools have been registered by the Ghana Education Service (GES) in the Eastern Region to write the 2024 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Of the 68 candidates, 24 were students of the Akropong School for the Blind, 17 from the Demonstration School for the Deaf, Mampong, 16 from the Koforidua School for the Deaf and 11 from the Kibi School for the Deaf.
Speaking with the Ghana News Agency in an interview, Mr. Kennedy K. Azumah, the Eastern Regional Special Education Coordinator of the GES, said among the special students were 24 girls.
“There are more male candidates than female candidates because sometimes parents hide their children away from society due to stigmatization. Also, some of them drop out of school due to sexual abuse,” he said.
This, consequently, contributed to the lower number of female special students enrolled in special schools, hence, the few numbers of female candidates to write the BECE.
He advised parents of special needs children to allow their wards to be trained, if not formally educated, in vocational skills to make them grow into independent individuals useful to the society.
Felix K. Asare, the Eastern Regional Deputy Public Relations Officer of the GES, said 53,264 candidates, consisting of 44,808 public school students and 8,456 private school students, would be writing the 2024 BECE at 195 centres in the region.
The candidates, who have been duly prepared by their teachers, he noted were from 2,118 basic schools, 1,524 from the public basic schools and 594 from the private basic schools in the region.
“I believe that the candidates are ready to write the BECE since they have been fully prepared by their teachers and have been tested through both district and school mock examinations,” he said.
In some districts, Mr. Asare mentioned that the municipal and district assemblies contributed to preparing the candidates by supporting them with the printing of mock papers and sometimes provided teachers with incentives to encourage them.
However, Mr. Asare observed that there has been a 9.5 per cent decrease in the total number of candidates registered to write this year’s BECE compared with the 58,325 candidates logged last year.
This, he explained, was due to a misconception that the BECE which served as a ticket to the Senior High School level would not be written this year, causing some parents to register their wards who were not in the Junior High School level three to write last year.
Mr. Asare admonished candidates to take advantage of the free education policy available to them by performing well in the BECE to enable them to achieve their career vision in the future.
Also, he urged teachers to round up lessons by Sunday, since the BECE would begin on Monday, July 8, 2024, and avoid following students to the centres with the mindset of helping them as the region was doing its best to minimize examination malpractices.
GNA