We can’t wait for Free SHS; 2019 BECE candidates declare
Candidates of this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) say they cannot wait to be part of the free senior high school (SHS) policy being implemented by the government.
According to them, they were so anxious to be part of the policy, which had provided an opportunity for all Ghanaian children, irrespective of where they came from, to have access to second-cycle education.
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The candidates, who said this in Accra in separate interviews with the Junior Graphic after writing Social Studies, the final paper of this year’s BECE, however, called on the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to abolish the ongoing double-track system in most SHSs.
As the candidates filed out of the various examination halls after the last paper, they started jubilating, amid shouts of joy for the successful completion of the examination, which began on Monday, June 10.
A candidate of the Mcphet Star Academy, Pascaline Nobertson, said she was very excited at completing junior high school (JHS) “after nine good years at the basic level”.
“All the papers went smoothly for me because we were taught everything in class.
The fear I had before the BECE vanished after writing the first paper.
I just can’t wait to go to SHS, but then I prefer to be admitted to a school that runs the single track rather than the double track,” she added.
Yvonne Ashti of the Hallel School Complex said she was grateful to God for seeing her friends and her through the BECE without any problems.
“Our teachers urged us to study and we did that and so we found most of the questions easy.
Although I am so anxious to enjoy free SHS, I prefer the single-track system.
The double-track system makes some students stay home while others are in school,” she added.
Another candidate, Martha Owusua Yeboah of the Zoe International School said she wrote the papers with ease and was hopeful that she would get her first-choice school.
She said she was going to use the period she would be at home to learn a trade as she awaited her results, adding that she was not too bothered about the double-track system and that all she wanted was to be in SHS.
Vera Nana Akliwaa of the Cable and Wireless JHS was happy for the problem-free BECE.
She expressed so much joy and gratitude to God after her last paper, saying that “the questions were very easy once you read them carefully”.
“I wanted to help my mom in her shop but because of the BECE she asked me to relax and study.
But now that I’m done with the BECE, I will be helping her in the shop before I finally go to SHS, unless she asks me to attend pre-SHS classes.
I prefer a single-track school because I think it will be better than the double track.
I will certainly get my first choice school because I believe I answered the questions correctly,” she added.
Michael Mensah of the Redemption Hour Complex School said the BECE was easier than he had initially thought and believed that he would not be denied his first-choice school.
“We were taught everything that appeared in the examination and so I know my friends and I will pass well.
I prefer the single-track system because I believe I will be able to study better there than in the double track,” he said, adding that in the meantime, he would attend pre-SHS classes before the results were released.