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The Kumasi Metropolitan Director of Education, Madam Augusta Akyaa-Sarpong, has reminded invigilators supervising the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) of the directive by the Ghana Education Service (GES) not to prevent pregnant candidates from writing the examination.

She said although it was wrong for the girls to be pregnant while in school, sacking them from the examination centres was against their human rights, adding that anyone who did that would be dealt with according to the GES regulations.

Madam Akyaa-Sarpong gave the reminder in an interview with the Daily Graphic after she had accompanied the Kumasi Metropolitan Chief Executive (MCE), Mr Kojo Bonsu, and other officials on a tour of some examination centres in Kumasi on the second day of the examination on Tuesday.

BECE candidates in Kumasi
A total of 22,653 candidates comprising 10,882 boys and 11,771 girls from 475 schools are writing the exams in the Kumasi metropolis.

To help reduce examination malpractices, the Metro Director disclosed that the Guidance and Counselling Unit in the metropolis and the School Health Education Programme (SHEP) embarked on massive education in schools to caution the candidates to be careful during the examination.

Mr Kojo Bonsu wished the candidates well and encouraged them to avoid any act that would affect the smooth running of the examination.

Initiative by Agona East MP

In another development, the Member of Parliament (MP) for Agona East, Mrs Queenstar Maame Pokuah Sawyerr, has initiated a programme to feed the 1,603 candidates writing the BECE in the Agona East District at the six examination centres in the district, reports Gilbert Mawuli Agbey from Agona Nsaba.

The MP has hired caterers to feed the candidates at the various centres after they have written their first paper, and this would continue till the end of the examinations.

Both students from public and private basic schools are benefiting from the programme.
The MP has also presented a pen and a mathematical set each to all the candidates writing this year’s examination.
Mrs Pokuah Sawyerr told the Daily Graphic in an interview that she instituted the programme as a morale booster for the candidates.

She mentioned that she was aware that most of the pupils, especially those from the hinterlands, wrote the exams on an empty stomach which negatively affected their performance.

Tour of exam centres
Mrs Pokuah Sawyerr, who is also the Deputy Central Regional Minister, accompanied by the Agona East District Chief Executive, Mr Francis Duodu Addo, made whistle stops on the first day at all the exam centres in her constituency to interact with the candidates and motivated them to take the exams seriously in order to attain good results.

She, therefore, advised the students to study hard and pass the examinations in order to benefit from the scholarship scheme which would enable them to acquire higher education.