Over 500,000 students on Monday, September 14, morning took part in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) which began across the country with the English language paper.
The five-day exercise is expected to be held in about 2,007 examination centers across the country.
Unlike previous years where the national exercise was conducted in June, this year’s exams together with the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) usually slated for May/June, were both postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
All candidates in the Northern Region were safely transported to centers to take part in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations despite the floods.
About 200 candidates who are to sit for the BECE in parts of the region feared they may not be able to sit for the papers as their centers have become inhabitable. Where they are supposed to write the examination have become inundated with floods.
Already, six lives have been lost to the floods with a lot of bridges collapsed.
GBC’s Murtala Issah reports that all the students were able to make it to the Examination Centers.
At the La-Dadekotopon Municipality, the examination got off to a rocky start as a female student collapsed while waiting for the Examination Question Papers, which arrived late. However, officials say the late arrival of the question papers is normal.
Correspondent Nathaniel Nartey who visited some Centers in the Municipality reports that the pupil who collapsed has been stabilised and was able to write the paper in an Ambulance.
From the Central Region, Correspondent Kofi Sakyiama Pobi reports that 58,531 students are writing this year’s BECE.
At the Mfantsipim Basic School Centre, Head of the Cape Coast Guidance and Counseling Unit, Winifred Pearce, said that seven girls were pregnant prior to the break in the academic calendar during the Covid-19 pandemic, four of the girls have since delivered and are writing the Examination.
At Kasoa in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, correspondent Rukayatu Musah reports that most centres started late due to delay in accessing examination papers.
