BECE 2023: More Females Candidates Than Males Sitting For Examination For The First Time Ever

• More girls than boys are sitting for the Basic Education Certificate Examination for the first time in Ghana's history
• The candidates for the 2023 BECE comprised 300,323 males and 300,391 females according to WAEC
• In an interview with YEN.com.gh, Africa Education Watch said this development was a good sign for Gender Parity in basic education

The 2023 BECE has seen females candidate outnumber their male counterparts for the first time.

The BECE school candidates comprise 300,323 males and 300,391 females, according to figures from WAEC.

The Ashanti Region has the highest number of candidates with 117,084, comprising 57,973 males and 59,111 females.

The Greater Accra Region follows the Ashanti Region with 112,894 candidates, comprising 54,624 males and 58,270 females.

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In all, 602,457 students across Ghana are writing the BECE, including 1,743 private candidates.

NGO lauds improvement

Africa Education Watch, an education NGO, noted that this trend showed that Ghana has improved in gender participation over the years.

Its Senior Programme Officer, Divine Kpe, told YEN.com.gh said Ghana now needed to ensure that this gender parity needed to be maintained.

"We are seeing results that girls are not just being enrolled but they are being retained in the school and that is a good sign.”

"It is our expectation that the parity will be maintained so we don’t see the adverse effects of girls dropping out more,” Kpe said.

BECE and WASSCE almost derailed

YEN.com.gh earlier reported that financial challenges from the government almost derailed the WASSCE and BECE.

The government eventually said it released GH¢55 million to WAEC to organise the two crucial examinations for 2023.

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Public Relations Officer of WAEC Ghana, Winifred Ampiaw, explained that GH¢15 million would be used to organise the BECE, while GH¢40 million would be allocated for the WASSCE.

The move followed concerns by the Minority in Parliament on Thursday that WAEC was cash-strapped and owed service providers.

Students stranded over registration fees

YEN.com.gh also reported in a separate story that some final-year JHS students in the Gomoa East district were stranded on the first day of the 2023 BECE after their head teacher allegedly spent money for registration fees.

The head teacher in the Gomoa Budu Atta D/A Junior High School was nowhere to be found as the BECE kicked off on the morning of August 7, 2023.

The head teacher allegedly collected GH¢400 to register candidates for the BECE, among other costs.

Source: YEN.com.gh