UPPER EAST BEC CANDIDATES DENIED ADMISSION TO SHSs (PAGE 11, JAN 21, 2011)

THE Headmaster of Bolgatanga Senior High School in the Upper East Region, Mr Didacus Afegra has disclosed that most students in the region who wrote last year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) have been denied admission into second cycle schools due to their inability to write “Gurune” as their examinable subject.
Mr Afegra who said this in an interview in Bolgatanga described the situation as worrying.
He explained that all over the country, the BECE candidates wrote more than one elective subject out of which the best grades in any of the electives was selected and used for grading and placement purposes.
Mr Afegra, who doubles as the Regional Chairman of BONABOTO, a union of residents of Bolgatanga, Nabdam, Bongo and Tongo communities, pointed out that candidates in most second cycle institutions across the region wrote only one elective subject and that those who failed in this elective subject were not placed into senior high schools and technical institutions.
He, therefore, appealed to the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr Mark Woyongo to use his good offices to facilitate the approval and the introduction of the “Gurune Language” as an examinable subject at the final BECE by the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC).
Mr Afegra said despite several complaints and appeals to the authorities concerned, nothing concrete had been done. The situation, he lamented, had given rise to youth migration down south since the desire of most students in the region was to get admission to well- endowed second cycle schools across the country.
He, however, stressed the urgent need for the GES and the WAEC to take a quick look at the situation and provide a permanent solution to it to ensure enrolment of more students into the second cycle schools.
He stressed that students in the Gurune speaking areas must be given the chance and necessary encouragement to study the “Gurune language” which was a core component of the culture of the people in the area.
According to him, the region possessed enough reading materials and trained teachers who were capable of teaching the children to pass the examination at the BECE level.
Mr Afegra, however, expressed his outfit’s preparedness in ensuring that the Gurune language was approved for the benefit of students in the region and said this demanded the support of all and sundry.