Five pregnant girls and two nursing mothers in the Ejisu-Juaben Municipality of the Ashanti Region are among 93,570 candidates sitting for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The pregnant girls, with baby bumps, were said to have been given a rousing welcome, but a few of their colleagues at the Achinakrom Senior High School (SHS) Centre hooted at them.
The nursing mothers raced to the examination centre with their babysitters.
This came to light when the Ashanti Regional Deputy Minister, Elizabeth Agyemang and the Regional Director of Education, Mary Owusu Achiaw, toured some examination centres in the municipality yesterday.
There were 14 centres that had a total of 3,985 students made of 2,039 boys and 1,946 girls from various schools across the municipality.
At the St. Louis SHS Centre in Kumasi, three students out of a total of 588 candidates failed to take part in the BECE yesterday during the minister’s visit.
A pregnant girl and two other students registered as candidates from 11 schools at the centre.
The Deputy Minister, Elizabeth Agyemang, who was happy about the increase in the number of girls for this year’s BECE, said it takes a lot of courage for a pregnant girl or young nursing mother to take up the challenge to sit for examinations to determine her future.
Such youngsters are committed to bringing honour to themselves and their families, she stated.
Ms Agyemang encouraged the students to perform excellently and called for strict adherence to rules governing the BECE to avert examination malpractices.
The minister admonished the students against pre-marital sex that could lead to teenage pregnancy.
The Regional Director of Education, Mary Owusu Achiaw, said the total number of candidates presented this year in the Ashanti Region increased from 91,349 in 2016 to 93,570, with a percentage change of 0.39.
She stated that out of the total number of candidates presented, 44,427 were females, while 46,922 were males from 2,656 schools across 30 districts.
According to her, the region, with 360 centres, recorded the highest number of candidates in this year’s BECE, representing 2.43 percent increase.