No Hope for 106 BECE candidates

April 21, 2009
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The dream of the 106 final-year students of taking part in this years’ BECE finally hit the rocks yesterday, when officials of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) categorically told the Ghana Education Service (GES) that it was “practically impossible for the students to take part in this year’s BECE because, apart from the fact that the students were not registered, the school itself was not recognised”.
The Ashanti Regional Director of Education Mr J. K. Onyinah, told the Daily Graphic when contacted on the fate of the 106 students, that they were told by WAEC that since they did not have the names of the affected students on their computer, it was practically impossible for them to take part in the examinations.
He said in a meeting with WAEC officials, they indicated that they did not have the requisite logistics to allow the affected students to participate in the examination.
He said since the examination had already started, with English and Religious and Moral Education, nothing could be done to allow the affected students to participate in the rest of the examination “because even if they do, their certificate would not be recognised”.
He pointed out that the GES could have intervened if they had been alerted earlier, “but now it is too late to do anything about the situation”.
Mr Onyinah, who expressed concern about the current state of affairs, gave the assurance that his outfit would look for schools that would admit the students to enable them to take part in next year’s examination.
He, therefore, appealed to the students to accept to write the examination next year.
Mr Onyinah further told the Daily Graphic that Christ the King International “had folded up since last year because they do not have students for both JHS 1 and 2, as well as those from the primary level that feeds the school”.
Mr Onyinah said he was, therefore, surprised that the school authorities succeeded in convincing some final-year students and their parents that it was capable of registering final-year JHS students to participate in the BECE.
Commenting on the issue during a tour of some examination centres in Accra, the Minister of Education, Mr Alex Tettey-Enyo, advised parents and guardians to conduct background checks on schools, especially private ones, before sending their children and wards to such schools.
That, he said, was to ensure that the parents and guardians had some knowledge about the status of the schools in order that they did not send their children and wards to schools with questionable backgrounds, which could jeopardise their future.
The minister gave the advice yesterday when he toured some Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) centres in the Ga East Municipality in the Greater Accra Region.
The five-day BECE, which will end on Friday, is being undertaken by final-year junior high school (JHS) students in the country.
About 395,582 candidates from 9,502 JHSs, made up of 214,542 males and 181, 1040 females are expected to write the examination.
Mr Tettey-Enyo gave the advice in reference to a case in Kumasi, where 106 final-year BECE candidates of the Christ the King International School in Kumasi were not registered for this year’s BECE examination.
Mr Tettey-Enyo said the GES had been asked to investigate the background of the Christ the King International School, and that if it was confirmed that it was not registered, it would be closed down.
The minister said private schools that did not regularise their operations with the GES would be closed down.
He said it was an offence, for instance, for a private school not to operate with a licence and within the guidelines of the service, adding that the service would step up its monitoring activities to flush out such schools.
Mr Tettey-Enyo also visited the Ghannata Senior High School centre where 18 schools were writing their examinations and asked them not to harbour any fears in the examination hall.