The aspirations of twelve candidates for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to receive their first academic certificate almost turned into a nightmare.
Due to their choice to wear slippers rather than the required cross-sandals, they were nearly denied the opportunity to write the first paper on Monday at the Ho Kabore JHS Center.
As they arrived at the testing site, the gullible students were shocked to find themselves chastised and told to leave after the English paper and return in better clothes for the afternoon Religious and Moral Education (RME) paper.
The victims’ pardon was granted, and the grace period was extended till Tuesday, according to Graphic Online’s Alberto Mario, by the Municipal Director of Education, Dr. Esther Adzo Yeboah-Adzima, who just so happened to be present at the centre to wish the candidates well.
“The school uniform does not go with slippers,” Dr. Yeboah-Adzima explained.
She maintained that the examination candidates should understand that they were not yet school leavers who could dress anyhow without consideration for school regulations, especially concerning their appearance.
That drama was followed by another interesting spectacle when all the 260 candidates at the centre were only allowed to enter their respective examination rooms after taking off the covers of their pens.
“This is because last year some candidates stuck pieces of paper with answers on them into the pen covers, and we do not want that to happen again,” said the centre’s supervisor, Makafui Doe Ama Fiagbe.
The candidates were also searched thoroughly to prevent them from entering the examination rooms with any foreign material. In spite of that, Ms Fiagbe said the examination took off smoothly without any hitch.
Visually-impaired
Meanwhile, 36 visually-impaired BECE pupils were among the 29,316 candidates in the Volta Region, where girls outnumber boys in the week-long examination. From public schools, the candidates include 12,316 girls and 12,204 boys, while candidates from private schools are made up of 2,466 girls and 12,204 boys.
The Volta Regional Director of Education, Francis Yaw Agbemadi, disclosed this to the Daily Graphic in Ho before the commencement of the BECE at the various centres yesterday.
He said the visually-impaired candidates comprised 14 boys and 22 girls.
The BECE, Mr Agbemadi said, was taking place at 115 centres in the region, with a total of 977 invigilators and 115 centre supervisors. There were no reported incidents at any of the centres in the municipality at the time of filing this report.
Reports reaching Ho from the North Tongu District, which is still recovering from the ravages of last year’s floods, indicated that the BECE took off in eight centres as expected.
The District Director of Education, Isabella Ayimey, who spoke to the Daily Graphic on the phone from Mepe, said 2,046 candidates from 82 schools wrote the paper.
She said there were three visually-impaired boys among the candidates. At the Ho-Kpodzi E.P. JHS ‘D’ Center, the paper started at 9 a.m. as scheduled, with 321 candidates.
The centre supervisor, Selorm Adjei, said the 321 candidates were made up of 177 girls and 144 boys. He said, unlike last year, there were no pregnant girls among the candidates.
Source: graphic.com.gh