26 youth from the Senior Correctional Center in Dzorwulu are certain that they would pass the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in 2023.

The 600,000 people who are taking the exam this year, include these twenty-six applicants.

Officer-in-Charge of the Senior Correctional Center, DDP Millicent Owusu, reaffirmed her steadfast conviction that these young people are capable of doing well in their exams.

According to her, the correctional institution had qualified teachers, and as the time for the examination drew nearer, they would call the education unit from the Ayawaso District to visit and speak with the applicants. However, she bemoaned the dearth of educational resources for the prisoners as well.

“The teachers are always with them every morning discussing past questions to enable them successfully write the exam. We all know that the national cake is too small and the lack of learning materials has been a big challenge, but we try our best to solicit help from NGOs and philanthropists who come to preach to inmates at the centre.”
DDP Millicent Owusu

MCE Tours BECE Centres

On Monday, August 7, Elijah Adansi-Bonah, the chief executive for Obuasi Municipal, visited the three examination locations chosen for the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) in 2023.

The purpose of the tour was for the MCE and the Education Directorate to both inspire the students in advance of the tests and to learn firsthand about how the exams would be administered. The MCE and his entourage visited the exam centers at the Obuasi Cluster of Schools, AngloGold Ashanti School, and Obuasi Senior High Technical School.

After the trip, MCE Adansi-Bonah spoke with the media and stated his satisfaction with the way the exams were organized, the security detail on duty, and the general attitude of the students. According to him, the Assembly and the Education Directorate worked effectively together to ensure that the students were appropriately prepared for the tests.

“We have collaborated with the education directorate to prepare the students for this exams through series of mock exams. I am optimistic that the efforts put in place will translate into good results by the students.”
Elijah Adansi-Bonah

He claimed that Obuasi had a long history of excelling in BECE, a feat the MCE assured Municipality stakeholders would continue as they would make sure that such remarkable academic accomplishments were upheld.

The head of the municipal security council, Mr. Adansi-Bonah, also commented on security by stating that severe precautions had been taken to prevent acts of violence before, during, and after the exams.

“Post-examinations violence are becoming rampant these days but the security personnel have been readied to prevent any group or schools from attacking the other.”
Elijah Adansi-Bonah

Meanwhile, the Municipal Education Director, George Alfred Koomson, pleased with the turnout, admitted that the lack of any female absentees on the first day of the tests is what had him so excited.

He emphasized that experienced examiners were hired to brief the applicants on the “dos and don’ts” of the Exams, in order to reassure the audience that the pupils had been appropriately prepared for the exams. He reiterated that in order to effectively prepare students for the BECE, the schools also administered three to four mock tests.

In three authorized centers in the Obuasi Municipality, 2,519 applicants were registered for this year’s BECE, consisting of 1,221 boys and 1,298 girls.