Five lactating mothers, six pregnant girls are writing BECE in Tumu
Five nursing girls, one with a two-month-old baby, and six pregnant girls are taking part in this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in Tumu in the Sissala East Municipality.
Mr. Cornelius Langyintuo, the Examinations Officer, at the Kanton Senior High School Centre ‘A’ told the Ghana News Agency in Tumu during a visit.
He said the nursing students were from Bugubelle Basic school, Bandei, and Kong Basic whilst those pregnant came from Lilixia, Nabugubelle, and Dimajang.
The rest were from Yigantu and Falahia Basic schools.
Seven students were also absent made up of five girls, and two boys, and the reasons were that three of them got pregnant and moved in to stay with the men who got them pregnant.
One who got pregnant earlier managed to deliver but fell sick and could not be available for the examination whilst the whereabouts of one was not known.
The Tumu Secondary Technical center detected a case of double registration while one boy also dropped out and was not available to write.
At the Tumu Senior High Technical School Center, a total of 19 schools from across the Sissala East Municipality comprising 393 candidates were present to write out of a total of 395 with two candidates absent.
At Kanton Senior high school, 19 public schools sat together to write the social studies and Information Communication and Technology paper.
Mr. Langyintuo also revealed that 55 public schools and one private school were involved in the writing of the examination.
The enrolment for the public school stood at 509 comprising boys and 530 girls making a total of 1,039 candidates.
The sole private school participating in the examination (Grace Provider Basic School) had 19 boys and 21 girls sitting for the examination.
The total number of pupils sitting for the examination in Sissala East Municipality stood at 1,072 with seven absenting themselves in all whilst a total of 1,079 pupils registered for the examination.
Mr. Langyintuo attributed the boldness of the pregnant pupils to sit for the examination to encouragement by both their teachers and parents and encouraged the rest to take advantage of the opportunity.
At the Tumu Secondary Technical center, the invigilators complained about the need for drinking water for the pupils.
Earlier, Mr. Fuseini Yakubu Batong, the Sissala East Municipal Chief Executive (MCE) encouraged them to put in their best during the examination to pass and take advantage of the free education at the secondary school level by passing well.