Stranded BECE candidates besiege offices

Kumasi, April 20, GNA - Some 106 stranded students of the Christ the King Junior High School at Ayigya in Kumasi, whose registration fees in respect of this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) were misappropriated by the school authorities, on Monday morning besieged the offices of the Metropolitan Education Directorate to demand justice.

The students, most of whom were accompanied by their parents, trooped to the directorate when they realized that the supposed index numbers given them by the school authorities were faked and as a result could not write the examination being conducted by the West African Examination council (WAEC). When the Ghana News Agency (GNA) visited the scene, some of the distraught students were wailing uncontrollably, while a section of the parents rained insults and curses on the school authorities for the harm done their wards.

Kwadwo Agyei, one of the affected candidates, told the GNA that he and his colleagues went to the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) Senior High School, the examination centre, to look for their index numbers only to be told that those numbers given them did not exist at the centre.

Reacting to the concerns of the students, Mrs Gladys Amaning, the Metropolitan Director of Education, pointed out that the candidates' situation was unfortunate because her outfit did not recognize the school. "So far as we are concerned, Christ the King Junior High School faded out some years ago and as such the Education Directorate has no records of its operation in the metropolis," she told the GNA. Mrs Amaning, however, indicated the preparedness of the directorate to collaborate with WAEC and other stakeholders to find out whether it could be possible for the unregistered candidates to write the examination. Meanwhile, Mr Agyenim Boateng, head teacher and Mr Prince Adu-Gyamfi, proprietor of the school, have been arrested and placed in custody by the KNUST police pending investigations. Inspector Paul Ababio of the Station, confirmed the report and said the two would be prosecuted after investigations. 20 April 09