More females to write BECE than boys in Ghana’s history – Report

For the first time in recent Ghana’s history, more female candidates will participate in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) administered by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) than males, a report has said.

“For the 1st time in recent history, Ghana is presenting more female candidates than males for BECE, even though fewer females (49.6%) enrolled in KG 1 when the current cohort started their 11-year journey,” the report indicated.

Scheduled to start Monday, August 7, 2023, to Friday, August 11, 2023, the 2023 BECE will see 600,714 candidates, comprising 300,323 boys and 300,391 girls from 18,993 Junior High Schools sit for the national examination.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) amid low entries in registration of BECE for Private Candidates this academic year will conduct both the 2023 BECE for School and BECE for Private Candidates at the same time.

The number of candidates that registered for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School according to the non-profit-making organization (WAEC) is 8.8% higher than the 2022 entry figure of 552,276.

With regard to the 2023 BECE for Private Candidates, a total entry figure of 1,743 candidates was recorded. This is made up of 889 males and 854 females. This year’s figure is 5.4% higher than the entry figure of 1,132 for 2022.

“The BECE for School Candidates will be held at 2,137 examination centres across the country, while 15 centres mainly in the regional capitals will be used for the BECE for Private candidates,” WAEC said in a post sighted by AcademicWeek.com.

For BECE School and Private candidates, 21 subjects, comprising 5 Core and 16 Electives will be made available to them. In addition to the 5 Core subjects, the School candidates will be given the option of choosing 4 Electives to make a maximum of 9 subjects.

To ensure the smooth and successful conduct of the 2023 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), 2,137 supervisors, 2,000 supervisors and 21,027 invigilators will oversee the administration of the School examination.

The current group of prospective candidates represents the final cohort of students taking the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School Candidates, an assessment that has been running for more than 30 years