WAEC reveals number of candidates to write 2023 BECE for School

About 600,714 candidates will sit for the 2023 (Basic Education Certificate Examination) BECE for School slated for August 7 to August 11, 2023, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, a spokesperson for the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has said.

Speaking in a discussion monitored by AcademicWeek.com, she said all the candidates to partake in the national examination are registered and eligible final-year students from both private and public Junior High Schools (SHS).

The 600,714 2023 BECE candidates comprising 300,323 males and 300,391 females from the spokeswoman said are from 18,993 Junior High Schools (private and public) will sit for the examination to be administered at 2,137 centres.

With regard to the BECE for Private Candidates, a total entry figure of 1,743 candidates will partake in BECE. 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 fifteen (15) centres mainly in the regional capitals will be used for the BECE for Private candidates,” the Public Relations Officer (PRO) said

Explaining her outfit’s readiness for the BECE, the WAEC Public Relations Officer said ”We have also gone round and inspected the depot, where we will be keeping our confidential materials during the conduct of the examinations.”

Commenting on rumours the 2023 BECE for School timetable has been changed, Agnes said the timetable for the final examination for Junior High School students still remains the same as published on the Exams Council website.

”Timetable has been sent to the various schools, briefing sessions will be held for supervisors before the exams”.Visit our website, www.waecgh.org for the authentic timetables for both BECE and WASSCE,” Mrs Teye-Cudjoe said.

The management of the non-profit-making organization (WAEC) just like last year says it will this year also administer the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for both School and Private candidates at the same time.

“The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School and Private Candidates, 2023 will be administered from Monday, August 7, 2023, to Friday, August 11, 2023,” the West African Examinations Council said in the post.

BECE

This examination is both for certification and selection into Senior High Schools and Technical Institutes in Ghana. The results of the examination are based on Continuous Assessment and the external examination. The Continuous Assessment forms 30% whilst the external examination forms 70% of the total assessment.

Eligibility

Candidates in the third year of Junior High School (JHS) approved by the Ghana Education Service (GES) are eligible to register to take part in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School.

Grading of candidates

Candidates are graded based on their performance in the external examination (objective and written) and Continuous (Internal) Assessment marks provided by the schools.

A nine-point numerical scale is used in grading the candidates with Grade 1 denoting the highest performance and Grade 9 the lowest.