A total of 42,612 public school candidates in the Central Region have registered to sit for this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the Regional Education Directorate has said.
The students comprised of 22,220 males and 20,392 females from 73 of the 75 Public Senior High Schools (SHSs) in the region, it added.
Mr Emmanuel Essuman, the Regional Director of Education, explained that two SHSs – Kobina Ansa SHS in the Mfantseman Municipality and SDA SHS in the Gomoa Central District could not register candidates for the exams because they are newly absorbed schools with classes up to form two.
He gave the figures when he addressed the Central Regional Coordinating Council meeting on Thursday.
He noted that the Directorate did not have data on private SHSs in the region because they registered directly with the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC).
He said the private schools failed to cooperate with the Directorate, arguing that they were no longer under the supervision of the Directorate, but the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA).
The WASSCE commenced on Monday, July 31 with the project and practical examinations and is expected to end on Tuesday, September 26, 2023.
Mr Essuman assured that regional and district education officers were effectively monitoring the exams to ensure its success.
On the just ended Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), he noted that a total of 68,049 candidates comprising 34,113 males and 33,936 females from 2,381 public and private Junior High Schools (JHSs) registered to write the exams.
However, there were 318 absentees owing to circumstances such as birth, sickness, and death, leaving 67,731 to sit for the papers.
He told the council that the region recorded a total of 222 pregnant girls and 81 nursing mothers across various districts in the BECE, adding that most of the cases came from Kasoa.
On the brighter side however, 55 students with special needs comprising 25 males and 30 females with conditions such as low vision, total blindness, autism, cerebral palsy, dysgraphia, and hearing impairment sat for the paper.
Mr Essuman added that four inmates from the Ankaful Prisons also wrote the BECE as private candidates at the WAEC Hall.
The Director expressed disquiet over the truancy on the part of some students after registration, some with the expectation of being supported during the exams.
He also bemoaned the lack of adequate funds to monitor the 221 centres, adding that the Regional Directorate’s two vehicle for monitoring were in poor conditions.