body-container-line-1
25.04.2007 Education

Six pregnant pupils dodge BECE

25.04.2007 LISTEN
By Daily Guide

The hope of six teenage girls who successfully registered for the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Adaklu-Anyigbe District of the Volta Region has been dashed as a result of unwanted pregnancies.

The six victims of teenage pregnancy formed the total number of female candidates who failed to show up at the various examination centres in the district on the first day of the BECE exams.

It was believed that the six affected candidates absented themselves from writing the papers for fear of being mocked at by their colleagues, in spite of the Ghana Education Service's (GES) new examination regulation that allows pregnant students to take part in the exams.

The most worrying aspect of the situation was that there were reported cases of pregnancies at almost all the four examination centres in the district.

This unfortunate development came to light when the District Coordinating Director (DCD), G. Y. Gadzekpo, last Monday led a team of newsmen to find out the state of conduct of the BECE examination at the various centres in the district.

In all, about 549 candidates drawn from 30 Junior Secondary Schools registered for this year's BECE exams in the district, out of which 8, apart from the 6 pregnant ones, were absent for inexplicable reasons.

At the Agortime Secondary School Centre, where 206 candidates were taking their exams, candidates were said to have started the exams late, due to delays in the arrival of exams materials, however at the Ziope JSS Centre, the exams started on schedule and without any hindrance.

At Adaklu-Aboadi where a total of 92candidates were present; the exams started on time whilst the 120 candidates at the Waya Centre started about 30 minutes late, also due to late arrival of exams materials.

The District Coordinating Director later expressed satisfaction at the peaceful and orderly manner in which the exams were being held, praising the supervising officers and invigilators for ensuring order and sanity.

Mr Gadzekpoho however asked the examination officials to be vigilant to forestall any exams malpractices that might bring the name of the district into disrepute.

The Volta Regional Director of Education, Korsi Hobenu, who joined the DCD later on the tour, said his visit to some of the examination centres had shown that this year's BECE had started on a very impressive note in the region.

Meanwhile, a visit to some centres in the Ho Township and its environs, and information gathered from the Regional West African Examination Council (WAEC) office showed that the exams had started smoothly without any report of irregularities.

body-container-line