The Ghana Education Service (GES) has described as “successful” the first day of this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
A total of 468,053 candidates are sitting the exams which commenced Monday, June 5 to June 9, 2017. Out of the total number of candidates, 241,148 are males, while 226,905 are females.
“The first day of this year’s BECE has been successful,” said the Public Relation Officer of GES, Rev. Jonathan Bettey Tuesday on Morning Starr, despite news of over 200 candidates failing to take part in the exercise Monday June 5, 2017 following a misunderstanding between chiefs and regional education authorities over location of examination centres.
The candidates are from four communities at Bindi South in the Bunpkurugu-Yunyoo District of the Northern region.
Commenting on the development, Rev. Bettey said the GES was unaware of it until a news report aired by the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) Monday evening.
He told Morning Starr host Francis Abban: “We were not informed. We have not received any information to whatever happened there until yesterday evening that GBC announced the situation over there. So, we are waiting patiently for the regional director to send us information as to what to do or the necessary steps to be taken.”
The candidates; 70 from Kanbatiak Junior High School, Guanging 51, Gbingbamong 79 and 18 Yenupinii were prevented from traveling to Gbankoni primary school center to write the exams by the Chief of Kanbatiak and some residents after education authorities failed to provide a center closer to the communities despite initial pledges.
Narrating the incident to Starr News, a staff at the district education directorate Kolan Bentuaka said the chief of Kanbatiak, largest community in the area, complained about troubles candidates in the area go through every year to write the exams and pleaded for a closer center.
He said an agreement was reached between the chief and education authorities in the region for the new center, only for the center to be sent to the Gbankoni community angering the chief and some parents who stopped the candidates from traveling to the new center with code 81410 for the exams.
