2022 BECE takes off today

This year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for both school and private candidates will, for the first time, be written simultaneously across the country from today, October 17, 2022.

In all, 553,408 candidates will write the examination, which will end on Friday, October 21, 2022, with 533,408 being school candidates and 1,132 being private candidates.

Low entries

Since the private candidates’ examination was introduced in 2015, there had been two separate examinations — one for school candidates and the other for private candidates. However, this year, both school and private candidates are writing the BECE together due to the consistently low entries for private candidates over the years.

The examination for school candidates is meant for persons who have gone through nine years of basic education, while that for private candidates is for persons who did not excel in the school examination but want to better their grades and first-timers who have not written the BECE before and want to possess the certificate to pursue their educational dreams.

The school candidates, who are from 18,501 public and private basic schools across the country, are made up of 276,988 males and 275,288 females.

The examination for school candidates will be written at 2,023 centres, with each centre having a supervisor, while 1,816 assistant supervisors will be deployed at some of the centres.

In all, there would be 19,384 invigilators, statistics from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) said.

In the case of the private candidates, there are 634 males and 498 females who will write the examination at 15 centres.

There will be 15 supervisors, 43 invigilators and one assistant supervisor for the BECE for private candidates.

Regional breakdown

According to the regional breakdown for the school candidates, the Ashanti Region, which has presented the highest number of candidates over the years, will again present the largest number of 107,468 candidates, made up of 53,719 males and 53,749 females.

The Greater Accra Region follows with 104,623 candidates — 50,347 males and 54,276 females, while the Central Region has 63,187 candidates — 31,610 males and 31,577 females.

A total of 55,687 candidates, made up of 28,365 males and 27,322 females, are writing the examination in the Western and the Western North regions.

The Eastern Region has 52,622 candidates, made up of 26,845 males and 25,777 females, while the Bono, the Ahafo and the Bono East regions have a total of 51,591 candidates, comprising 26,143 males and 25,448 females.

Some 43, 592 candidates, made up of 23,097 males and 20,495 from the Northern, the North East and the Savannah regions are taking part in the examination.

The Volta and the Oti regions have presented 39,224 candidates, 20,373 males and 18,851 females, while the Upper East Region has presented 20,953 candidates, made up of 9,887 males and 11,066 females, with the Upper West Region presenting 13,329 candidates, comprising 6,602 males and 6,727 females.

For the BECE for private candidates, 389 candidates, made up of 220 males and 169 females, are writing the examination in the Greater Accra Region, while 127, comprising 63 males and 54 females, are writing it in the Eastern Region, with 125 candidates (75 males and 50 females) writing it in the Central Region.

Some 62 candidates, 28 males and 34 females, are writing the examination in the Western and the Western North regions, while the Ashanti Region has 96 candidates (57 males and 39 females); Bono, Ahafo, Bono East, 32 candidates (13 males and 19 females); Volta and Oti, 87 candidates (49 males and 38 females); Northern, North East and Savannah, 30 (24 males and six females); Upper East, 45 (23 males and 22 females) and Upper West, 149 (82 males and 67 females).

Source: Graphic online