Free SHS awaits you in September 2017 -President tells BECE candidates
The President, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, has sent his best wishes to candidates writing this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
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Posting on his Twitter handle #BECE 2017, he said, “The very best of luck to the 468,053 candidates sitting for this year’s BECE” and went on to remind them: “Free SHS awaits you in September 2017.”
President Akufo-Addo encouraged the candidates to “seize this opportunity with both hands and open the door to your own and Ghana’s bright future”.
Candidates
A total of 468,053 candidates from 15,185 junior high schools (JHSs) throughout the country are writing this year’s BECE, which took off smoothly in all the 1,702 examination centres across the country last Monday.
President Nana Akufo-Addo’s message to the candidates was one of hundreds of best wishes from religious, political and community leaders across the country.
The governing New Patriotic Party (NPP), when it was in opposition, campaigned on the message of free SHS towards the 2016 elections.
Road map
At the 60th anniversary of the Okuapeman SHS in Akropong-Akuapem in the Eastern Region, President Nana Akufo-Addo outlined the free SHS policy, saying it would come on stream in the 2017/2018 academic year.
“By free SHS, we mean that in addition to tuition, there will be no admission fees, no library fees, no science resource centre fees, no computer lab fees, no examination fees and no utility fees,” he explained.
Under the free SHS policy, the government has pledged to also take up the cost of accommodation and feeding for boarders and provide one free meal for day students every day.