All is set for the first-ever resit of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for private candidates, which starts on Monday, February 16 to 20.
In all, 1,181 candidates are expected to converge on 11 examination centres throughout the country.
All the candidates, with the exception of those from the Bia District in the Western Region, will write the examination at venues created in the regional capitals.
The candidates in the Bia District will write their exam at Esiam, the district capital.
Out of the total number of candidates who registered for the examination, 1,136 candidates are expected to write Mathematics, while 1,057 of them will write English Language.
The Western Region recorded the highest number of 276 candidates. Out of the number 200 registered in the Bia District for which reason an examination centre has been created in the district capital.
The Upper East Region registered the lowest number of 28 candidates.
In all, 75 examiners are expected to mark the examination scripts from March 25 to April 20, 2015, and the results are expected to be released in May 2015.
Second chance
The private BECE is an opportunity for BECE candidates who missed out in the placement exercise under the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) to get a second chance to further their education.
It is open to candidates who are rewriting the examination because they did not perform well in specific subjects as well as those desirous to pursue their education and are, therefore, writing the examination for the first time as out-of-school candidates.
Speaking in an interview, the Principal Public Affairs Officer of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mrs Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, said all was set for the examination and that all the examination materials were at the various regional depots of WAEC.
Making history
While wishing the candidates the best of luck in the examination, she reminded them that they were making history as the first batch of candidates to resit and therefore, owed it a duty to set the tone for a malpractice-free examination.
Mrs Teye-Cudjoe was confident that because of the few candidates who would be writing the examination, supervision would be effective.
For instance, she said, only 161 candidates would be writing the examination in the Greater Accra Region.
She therefore cautioned them to stay away from any examination malpractice, such as carrying foreign materials and mobile phones into the examination halls, “Because the law will catch up with them.”
