According to Rev. John Ntim Fordjour, the deputy minister of education, there are enough openings in the more than 900 Senior High Schools (SHS) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions to admit all 600,714 candidates taking the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) this year.
He claimed that in order to take advantage of the new Free SHS programme, the candidates must perform well in the BECE.
He said this at the St. Thomas Aquinas Senior High School in Accra, where some BECE candidates were writing their exam papers.
The Greater Accra Director of Education, Stephen Bamfo, and the Deputy Minister told the candidates that the government was prepared to put policies in place to make sure they received the greatest possible support for their education.
“Free High School (FSH)/ Free Technical and Vocational Education and Training (FTVET) await you so work hard to benefit from the novel policy to shape your future dreams,” he said.
The Assin South MP reminded the applicants that although though they were in the same exam room, they had different sets of questions, and they shouldn’t accept any aid from anyone.
After the monitoring, the Deputy Minister addressed the media and shot down suggestions that the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) might be cancelled, saying,
“there has not been any discussion or policy to terminate BECE today or tomorrow, the notion should be disregarded. West African Examination Council (WAEC) remains our partner in education development. We will keep resourcing WAEC so it would continue to discharge its mandate as required of them” he said.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour discussed how WAEC has helped the country’s educational advancement throughout the years, pointing out that “once in a while, we remit them depending on their needs and the programme they are running.”
The few isolated violations that occurred at a few testing locations across the nation, which the Deputy Minister deemed to be very sad, were bemoaned.
He promised severe punishment for those responsible in an effort to teach others a lesson and prevent them from considering cheating on exams.
Rev. Ntim Fordjour expressed his happiness that the arrest of a few professors demonstrated the effectiveness of the strict safeguards put in place to prevent all types of exam fraud.
SOURCE: Senali News Ghana
