Heads of JHS in Akuapem South barred from BECE centres

Heads of Junior High Schools (JHS) in the Akuapem South Municipality of the Eastern Region have been barred from Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) centres as part of measures to guarantee examination security.

Mr Mustapha Haruna Appiah, the Akuapem South Municipal Director of Ghana Education Service, who disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in an interview, explained that the directive was to ensure the sanctity of this year’s examination.

He also said it was one of the elaborate measures put in place to help curb examination malpractices during BECE in the municipality.

Mr Appiah, who is for the first time superintending over BECE in the Municipality, observed that headteachers, when allowed into the examination centres or halls, could be enticed to teach their students, hence the need to keep them away from the examination centres.

“We don’t want them to be tempted to offer the students support in the examination halls. Their duty is just to present the candidates,” he said.

In addition to ensuring a successful examination process, Mr Appiah said, the candidates were searched thoroughly, and invigilators were given tags for accreditation before being allowed in the exam halls with the police providing security.

He said the measures were not new, stressing, “This is not the first time I am conducting BECE. I used to do the same thing at Afram Plains where I used to be.”

He was happy that so far, the Municipality had not recorded any report of examination malpractice and encouraged students to continue the good behaviours by comporting themselves.

He encouraged candidates who will be writing next year to prepare and study hard to help them pass successfully to help them to pursue their chosen careers in life with ease.

Meanwhile, some disgruntled headteachers were surprised about the directive because that had not been the tradition in the municipality over the years.

Source: GNA