A total number of 571, 894 candidates will sit for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) from tomorrow, Monday, November 15, 2021 to Friday November 19, 2021 at 2,158 centres nationwide.

A total of 531,707 and 517,332 candidates sat for the examination in 2020 and 2019, respectively.

Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, Head of Public Affairs, West African Examinations Council’s National Office, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said
the Council had put in place stringent security measures to prevent leakages in this year’s examinations.

She said officials of the National Intelligence Bureau monitored the production process – printing, sorting and packaging of the papers- and confident that there would be no leakages of the papers before and during the exams.

“The Council has also increased the number of depots storing confidential materials under strict surveillance to ensure that the papers did not leak before and during the examinations,” she said.

Mrs Teye-Cudjoe said all COVID-19 safety protocols would be observed during the examination, stressing that all candidates would be given hand sanitizers and that “should a candidate fall sick and a medical report is available, a committee will look into the situation and take a decision.”

A statement signed by Mrs Cassandra Twum Ampofo, the Head of Public Relations, Ghana Education Service, commended teachers, school heads, parents, and other stakeholders for preparing the candidates for the examination.

The statement entreated all stakeholders to desist from any form of examination malpractice.

It said details of the selection process for the Senior High School would be communicated in due course and wished all candidates success and good luck.

Meanwhile, Mr Kofi Asare, Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, an Education Policy Research and Advocacy Organisation, said there were no enough assurances from WAEC that this year’s BECE would be leakage-free.

He said per historical antecedents in WAEC related examinations, he could only hope that the examining body would put its house in order to prevent the “scare of what took place in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination.”

Mr Peter Korda, Head of Public Relations, Ghana National Association of Teachers, said they expected the BECE results to be better this year despite long COVID-19 break.

He said teachers did their best to catch up with the curriculum after the 10-month break in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“COVID-19 pushed teachers to go the extra mile to adequately prepare students for the examinations through extra classes and online teaching and assignments,” he said.

He advised the candidates to adhere to rules and instructions of the exams.