The BECE in Ghana: Outdated Relevance, Rising Malpractices, and Pathways for Reform

The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) replaced the Common Entrance Examination. It was birthed from the 1987 educational reform and implemented fully in 1990 to primarily serve as a bridge between pupils transitioning from Junior Secondary School to Senior Secondary School.

The Basic Education Certificate Examination was created to serve two main purposes, viz., to place students into appropriate secondary-level programs and to certify completion of basic education. The 1987 education policy of Ghana defines basic education as 6 years of primary education and 3 years of junior secondary school education.

The BECE, which has been running for 35 years, appears to have outlived its relevance and lost its purpose entirely. The examination, which was created to transition students from the basic level to the secondary level, has become a competition among basic schools, students, and even parents.

What Causes the Competition?
The ranking of the various Senior High and TVET schools into categories A, B, and C is a major cause of the competition we currently witness. Senior High Schools have been categorized in order of performance, with the "best" or "elite," as most people will term it, being placed in the "A" category in that order.

Junior high schools, which serve as a bridge to the various senior high schools, as a means of satisfying parents and maximizing the goodwill of the school, employ all means just to ensure that students who transition from their schools get the best results to enter a category A school.

Malpractice reports given by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) suggest that schools and teachers provide assistance to candidates during the examination, with some invigilators demanding as little as GH₵5 from students in order to provide them with answers. There are reports of students entering the examination hall with mobile phones and already solved answers.

These malpractices are carried out simply because every child wants to get a good grade to enter a category A school. This has affected the credibility of the BECE, and many are those calling for a reform. The level of malpractice keeps growing each year, and it has indeed become a bother.

Some district education offices also rank basic schools based on their performance in the BECE, and this also creates fierce competition where schools employ various strategies just to stay on top. All these have contributed to the BECE losing its credibility.

THE WAY FORWARD
The Basic Education Certificate Examination, which happens to be the only route a JHS student can use to enter an SHS, should be canceled and replaced with an entrance examination which will be conducted at the various senior high schools.

Instead of learning and writing examinations on 10 subjects, students can be guided right from JHS 1 to focus on subjects which align with their career path. In this case, if a student has plans of becoming a medical doctor, he can be limited to Science, Mathematics, English, Computing, and one non-examinable subject, making the total number of subjects 5.

When the student gets to form 3, he/she will select a school within his region that offers Science. A set date will be given for an entrance examination in the said school. This would be better as examinations will be conducted within the school setting (senior high school). If the senior high school teachers decide to aid and admit candidates who underperform, that will be their own cross to carry.

Another thing to consider is to cancel the categorization of the senior high schools. There should be more well-resourced community schools with equal opportunities to avoid the overburdening of some few schools.

For the Basic Education Certificate Examination to regain its lost credibility, it should be replaced with entrance exams.

The author, Alpha Osei Amoako, is a social commentator and an educationist with a special interest in educational leadership.

Email: kwamealpha@gmail.com

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