Deputy Minister urges BECE candidates to be confident

Accra, June 6, GNA - Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, Deputy Minister of Education, has urged candidates for the 2017 Basic Education Certificates Examinations to be bold and exhibit a high sense of confidence during the examination.

He advised the candidates to take away fear, be focused and study hard to justify the investment made on them by their parents and come out with good results.

The Deputy Minister gave the advice on Tuesday when he and his team visited selected examination centres in Accra to monitor the second day of examination.

The candidates wrote Integrated Science and Basic Design Technology on the second day of the examination.

The centres visited include Flagstaff House Basic School, Armed Forces Senior High Technical School, Labone Senior High School and Aquinas Senior High School.

The team included Professor Kwesi Opoku-Amankwah, Acting Director-General at the Ghana Education Service (GES), and Mr Anthony Boateng, the Deputy Director General in charge of Management Services at GES.

Dr Adutwum speaking to the press after the tour expressed satisfaction about the discipline and comportment of the students and was optimistic that these trends would continue till the end of the examination.

He advised the candidates to take their studies serious since their batch would usher the free Senior High School due to commence on September.

'Do not rush to answer the questions, read the instructions carefully and understand it before attempting to write, you need to take time to review your work after you are done to correct any other errors before submitting your answer paper,' he added.

He thanked all who played a part in the success of the second day of the exams including the Police, supervisors, the invigilators and the parents and pray for success at the end of the paper on June 9.

Prof Opoku-Amankwah advised the candidates to abide by the rules and regulations of the examination and tried their maximum best to excel and avoid any examination malpractices.

He said the GES had collaborated with the West Africa Examination Council and other stakeholders to avoid any leakages and ensure that the exams ended on an incidence free and fair.

He said the GES and the stakeholders would meet and decide on the faith of candidates who failed to write the first day of the exams due to venue issues and call for calm in all centres across the country.

A visit by the team to the flagstaff House Basic School, revealed that 200 students from four schools sat for the examination, the Armed Forces Senior High School Centre 'B' had 234 students with one absentee and one special candidate from three schools writing the examination, while centre 'A' had 171 students from three schools.

At the Labone Senior High School, 214 students from four schools were partaking in the examinations, and St Aquinas Senior High School had a total of 220 students from five schools writing the examinations.

This year, a total number of 468,053 students from 15,185 schools are writing the exams across the country.

GNA

By Kodjo Adams, GNA