The Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Professor Kwesi Yankah has toured seven Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) centres to encourage candidates to write to the best of their ability and pass the examination despite the Covid-19 restrictions.
A total of 2,085 candidates made up of 1,036 males and 1,049 females are writing the five-day examination.
Three of the 10 absentee candidates were reported to be pregnant.
Prof Yankah was accompanied by Mr. Dennis Armah-Frempong, the District Chief for Agona East, Mrs. Golda Andam, Headmistress of Swedru Senior High School, and some directors of education.
The centres visited were the Swedru Senior High School, Agona Asafo AEDA JHS, Agona Kwanyako Secondary Technical School, Mankrong-Junction AEDA JHS, and Namawura Community Senior High School, Nsaba Presbyterian Senior High School.
Mr Yankah, who is also the New Patriotic Party (NPP) parliamentary candidate for Agona East, said this was the first time in the examination’s history that candidates had to go through strict health and safety protocols before writing.
Professor Yankah said it was sad that they had to uncomfortably wear nose masks but it was for their own safety to check the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.
He gave the assurance that the free education policy from kindergarten to senior high school would continue unabated and urged the candidates to excel to be admitted into Grade ‘A’ schools to pursue secondary education.
He said the good news was that the Government had decentralised the educational scholarship scheme to the districts to ease the struggle parents in rural areas went through to gain access to scholarships for their children.
The Minister said the District scored 20 per cent in 2017, 60 per cent in 2018 and 60 per cent in 2019 in the BECE and expressed the hope that it would score 100 per cent in 2020.
Mr. Dennis Armah-Frempong, the DCE, advised the candidates against sending foreign materials into the examination hall as it could lead to cancellation of their papers and wished them the best in the exams.
Latest Stories
-
Asantehene receives more 19th century gold ornament and regalia
4 mins -
Hohoe Ghana Blind Union organises training for members ahead of Election 2024
10 mins -
Alan Kyerematen reveals his future plans for Ghanaian Health professionals
11 mins -
AAIN empowers women and small enterprises in Upper East Region through SHINE project
12 mins -
Akufo-Addo leads nationwide commissioning of 80 educational projects
18 mins -
Ghana and Seychelles strengthen bilateral ties with focus on key sectors
49 mins -
National Elections Security Taskforce meets political party heads ahead of December elections
53 mins -
Samsung’s AI-powered innovations honored by Consumer Technology Association
1 hour -
Fugitive Zambian MP arrested in Zimbabwe – minister
2 hours -
Town council in Canada at standstill over refusal to take King’s oath
2 hours -
Trump picks Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdraws
2 hours -
Providing quality seeds to farmers is first step towards achieving food security in Ghana
2 hours -
Thousands of PayPal customers report brief outage
2 hours -
Gary Gensler to leave role as SEC chairman
2 hours -
Contraceptive pills recalled in South Africa after mix-up
3 hours