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The first-ever private Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) took off at 11 examination centres throughout the country yesterday.
 
An estimated 1,181 candidates are expected to write the examination, which ends on Friday, February 20, 2015.

One thousand and fifty-seven candidates were expected to write the English Language paper yesterday, while 1,136 candidates are expected to write the Mathematics paper tomorrow.

Asare Menako Hall
When the Daily Graphic visited the Asare Menako Conference Hall in the Greater Accra Region at 10 a.m. yesterday, it learnt that 134 out of the 148 candidates who were expected to write the English paper there had turned up. 

The hall, which is the venue for candidates writing the  private BECE in the Greater Accra Region, had one supervisor and five invigilators.

The Supervisor at the centre, Mr Timothy Quaye, who briefed the paper, said the examination had taken off smoothly, adding that the only problem encountered was that a number of the candidates turned up without their index numbers “and we had to help them get their numbers”.

He said one of the candidates had a hearing challenge and, according to the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) rules and regulations, he was entitled to one and a half times the time allotted to the other candidates.

Until now, candidates wishing to resit the BECE were required to go back to their former schools to join their juniors to write the examination.

Last year, the Ministry of Education gave the go-ahead for the conduct of the private resit examination.

Good luck
While wishing the candidates good luck, the Minister of Education, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, assuaged their fears that the examination would be too difficult for them.

She expressed optimism that they would make good grades to enable them to progress on the educational ladder.

The minister said the candidates were making history as the first group to write the private BECE, noting that until now, the candidates were required to go back to their former schools to join their juniors to write the examination.

Excitement
After the English paper, many of the candidates looked excited and said it was “manageable”.

Sharing his excitement with the Daily Graphic, 21-year-old Adih Korku Worlanyo, who said he was writing the examination for the first time, said he was hopeful of performing well to enable him to enter senior high school and ultimately the university to study Electrical Engineering.

Master Gbadegbe Mawusi Freeman, 22 said he was confident he would perform well to enable him to pursue his dream of becoming an engineer in future.