BECE candidates to write 3 new subjects

Final-year junior high school (JHS) students in the country will be writing three new subjects in this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School Candidates.

The new subjects are Career Technology, Creative Art and Design, and Arabic. Career Technology and Creative Art and Design, culled from the previous Basic Design and Technology (BDT), will be written by all the candidates, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said.

Arabic will, however, be optional for candidates in Islamic basic schools.

Days extended
Due to the introduction of the new subjects, the 2024 examination will be taken in six days instead of the previous five days — Monday to Friday. The examination will start on Monday, July 8, 2024, and end the following Monday, July 15, 2024.

Throwing more light on the 2024 examination, the Head of Public Affairs of WAEC, John Kapi, told the Daily Graphic that new subjects could be introduced any time since it was an examination that was solely Ghanaian, and so it was the government that determined what it wanted to be taught and students examined in.

Mr Kapi said the council had just finished the registration of candidates and was now going to do the breakdown of candidates writing the various subjects. WAEC, he said, was ready for the examination as all meetings related to it had been concluded, adding that sample questions had been sent to schools and posted on the council’s website.

“The printing exercise will start very soon, and so we are on course,” he emphasised. In the case of Arabic, he said it was the first time the subject was being examined at the BECE.
He said the subject could be best described as an elective, and could also be written by persons who believed they were proficient in it and wanted a certificate to that effect.

Timetable
Per the official timetable released by WAEC, candidates will write English Language and Religious and Moral Education on Monday, July 8, 2024. On Tuesday, July 9, 2024, candidates will write Science and Computing, which was previously Information, Communication and Technology (ICT), and then write Social Studies and Creative Art and Design on Wednesday, July 10, 2024.