Saturday, 13th September, 2025
Hon Joseph Kwame Kumah
Kintampo North
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to make this Statement on the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) which has already started.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) officially scheduled the examination to take place from 11th to 18th June 2025, and it is still ongoing.
Mr Speaker, the data from WAEC indicates that a total of 603,228 candidates, comprising 306,078 females, and 297,250 male candidates across the country are expected to sit for this year’s examination. This is an increase in the 2024 entry number of 569,236 by 5.99 per cent. Private candidates have a total entry of 1,661 which is 19.49 per cent higher than the 2024 entry figure of 1,390 candidates. These remarkable figures reflect the determination of our young learners and the growing pursuit of educational advancement in Ghana.
Mr Speaker, it is, however, important to acknowledge the persistent challenges that many of these candidates face, that is, the limited access to learning resources, inadequate infrastructure, and regional disparities in education delivery. Despite these hazards, our students continue to demonstrate admirable resilience and perseverance.
Mr Speaker, it is with deep concern that I draw attention to reports from WAEC and stakeholder briefings highlighting a surge in examination malpractices, with the Bono East Region topping the list in reported cases of 2021- 2023 in relation to WASSCE. Common infractions include collusion, the use of mobile phones, impersonation, and the introduction of foreign materials into examination halls. These actions undermine the integrity of the examination system and discredit the hard work of the majority of honest candidates. If left unchecked, such malpractices threaten the future of our educational system and the credibility of our national qualifications.
It is therefore my contention that heads of schools, invigilators, parents and candidates must refrain from such malpractices to ensure that the sanctity of examinations are protected. Let this examination be a celebration of hard work, not a plot on academic integrity. To our students, please trust in your preparation. You have worked hard for this. Do not jeopardise your future by attempting to cheat. To school heads and invigilators, you have a duty to uphold fairness and discipline throughout the examination period. WAEC and the Ghana Education Service must intensify supervision, sensitisation and enforcement of sanctions where necessary to safeguard the credibility of this critical academic milestone, which they are doing anyway.
Mr Speaker, education is not only a personal journey, it is a constitutional right. Article 38 (2) of the 1992 Constitution charges government to ensure access to free universal basic education. As such, this House must reaffirm its commitment to strengthening infrastructure and teaching resources, expanding training and ethical oversight for educators, investing in digital and inclusive education delivery and improving student support systems, especially in the era of artificial intelligence.
Mr Speaker, as our sons and daughters prepare or are already writing this B.E.C.E., let us rally behind them with encouragement and unwavering support. Let us also send strong messages that malpractice has no place in our examination halls. Their success is not only personal; it is the building blocks in the foundation of the future of Ghana.
I wish all candidates the very best. May their efforts be rewarded with success and may they continue to raise their honesty, determination and excellence.
Mr Speaker, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.
Hon Peter Kwasi Nortsu-Kotoe
Akatsi North
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement made by the Hon Member for Kintampo North on the ongoing B.E.C.E.
Mr Speaker, in the Statement he mentioned that we have seen an increase of 5.99 per cent in the number of candidates for this year. As he said, the number has been increasing by the year, and it is important that we also take note of the number of females that are writing the examination this year. That is quite higher than those of the boys. It is commendable that our girls are now getting a very good place in our schools. Our visit to a number of Senior High Schools recently also showed that the girls outnumbered the boys in the Senior High Schools, which is good for us.
Mr Speaker, let me also use this opportunity to thank Hon Members who have contributed in diverse ways towards the conduct of the examination. Some of them provided mathematical sets and other instruments to candidates in their various constituencies. Some are even feeding the candidates who travel from various schools and converge at the examination centres. That is commendable. I hope that they will continue in the coming years.
Mr Speaker, what is also interesting this year is that there was no threat from WAEC of a postponement of the examination because of non-payment of the examination fees or release of funds by the government for the registration of the exams. Mr Speaker, I can tell you on authority that there was a timely release of funds to WAEC for the conduct of the examinations this year. So, we need to commend the Minister for Finance and the Minister for Education for collaborating very well to make sure that funds were made available for the conduct of the examinations.
Mr Speaker, WAEC has been complaining over the years about examination malpractices in our schools. So far, 10 people have been arrested for examination malpractices, including teachers, and it is uncalled for. We have observed, even as a Committee, that the sanctions that are imposed on these teachers who misconduct themselves are not deterrent enough. We hope that the Ministry of Education will take a cue from this and make sure that those who engage in such malpractices are given punishments that are deterrent enough, so that we can curb examination malpractices.
This is because once we engage in examination malpractices like this, these young ones are being taught levels of corruption, and that is not good for this nation. If we are helping them to cheat in examination, what will happen when they grow old and take positions in this country? I am sure that it will not be good for us.
So, Mr Speaker, my appeal to the Ministry of Education is to make sure that there are severe sanctions on teachers who engage in examination malpractices. On that note, I wish all candidates the best of luck this year, especially, candidates in the Akatsi North District.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Hon Eric Edem Agbana
Ketu North
Thank you, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement by my senior Colleague and a Colleague Member of the Committee on Education on the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).
Mr Speaker, my Committee Chairman has said a lot and I want to add a little by contributing in the sense that, the BECE for me is more than just an exam. It is a mirror that reflects the soul of our educational system. Mr Speaker, the results from the BECE over the years, rather than being just a metric for individual performance, I believe is a metric for also measuring how education is performing in the country across various regions and districts.
Mr Speaker, I speak with so much concern and pain that when we study BECE results over the years, it appears as though we have two different countries where children from particularly rural areas are underperforming, while children from the urban centres are doing very well. It is important for us to build an educational system where children from rural Saboba, rural Fenyi, and rural Dzodze equally have the same opportunities as children in East Legon, Adenta or other parts of the country.
Mr Speaker, this morning, I was in my Constituency to tour some of the centres where the examination is taking place. I decided to ask some of the teachers, the performance of the students in previous years. To my surprise, in some of the schools in my Constituency, their best students last year had aggregate 35, some 36, and some, aggregate 31. Meanwhile, that is not the situation in Greater Accra or in the urban centres.
I would want to appeal to the Ministry of Education, and by extension, the entire Government, that the results that we will be getting from this year’s BECE should be a metric to guide the Government in terms of educational investment. Let us see how best we can invest in education in the rural areas, so that children in rural Ghana will have the same opportunities as children in other parts of the country.
Mr Speaker, I wish all the 603,000 candidates the very best in the exams. I believe that this House will help in ensuring that after the results are released, the transition to senior high school will be smooth, so that the challenges that they are usually confronted with, with the computerised selection system, will be eradicated, so that our junior brothers and sisters and our children who are proceeding to senior high school will have a smooth transition and will be able to benefit from investments that this country is making into education. Mr Speaker, having said that, I thank the maker of the Statement for bringing this issue to the House.
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity.
Hon Yusif Sulemana
Bole Bamboi
Mr Speaker, I am very grateful for this opportunity.
Mr Speaker, let me first of all thank the maker of the Statement. This is a very important Statement, and for me, there is a need for us to look at education and look at it very well.
Mr Speaker, we are all happy that we have free senior high school education, but what we have not adverted our minds to is the fact that we are not giving the basic level the needed resources. As we speak, we still have schools where the children sit outside to learn. So if we do not give them the basics very well, when they get to the Junior High School (JHS) level, it reflects. This will also reflect in their performance when they sit for the BECE. So, it is important to look at education in terms of ensuring that the basics are well fixed. If we fix the basics very well, it will reflect in their performance when they sit for the exams.
Mr Speaker, unfortunately, we still have schools in this country where even furniture is a problem. I remember last year, when the BECE exam was taking place in my Constituency, it was difficult to even get furniture for them to be able to write their exams. Thank God we are making some efforts this time to get them furniture.
Mr Speaker, I wrote the BECE in 1989, and in 1989, it was difficult for me to get a mathematical set to be able to sit for that exam. That has given me some lessons, and so every year, I try as much as possible to provide mathematical sets for all those who sit for the BECE. One may think that it is not important, but with the experience I had, I realised that it is important. From my investigation, it is still difficult for some parents to get these mathematical sets for the children when they are sitting the BECE exams. Let me congratulate and applaud my Colleagues who have taken the pain to supply mathematical sets to students. Some have offered food and some have offered so many things. I think that there is a need for us to continue on that trend.
Mr Speaker, having said this, once again, let me thank the maker of the Statement, and that many of these Statements should engage us. We should even go into our Budget and find out the kind of allocations that we are making for the basic education, vis-à-vis what goes to the secondary education.
Mr Speaker, with this, I thank you.
Hon David Theophilus Dominic Vondee
Twifo Atti Morkwa
Mr Speaker, thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this very important Statement made by my very good Friend.
Mr Speaker, today we are celebrating our children writing their BECE, and when I cast my mind back to my Constituency, for example, there are many works that we must do to better the education system in this country. There are many infrastructure deficits that we have and many educational infrastructures like school buildings that are left in many areas to rot. I remember when H.E. Prof Evans Atta-Mills, of blessed memory, instituted a programme called Eliminating Schools Under Tree.
Mr Speaker, as I speak to you now, there are many schools that were started under that programme that are still at the mercy of the weather. Some of them have rotten to the extent that one cannot even build them again. One would have to demolish them and rebuild and so forth and so on.
Mr Speaker, I mean, in the urban areas, the schools are good. Students are getting the best of education, but when one enters some of the rural sectors and sees the schools that the children attend and the kind of infrastructure that we have, and also tutors, one would— Inasmuch as we are celebrating those in the urban sector that they are getting better education, they will be writing exams and will be getting good grades, those from the rural areas are suffering.
Mr Speaker, when it comes to the distribution of tutors into the various schools, in my Constituency, for example, one will see a whole primary school and JHS together and there would be about three tutors teaching from class one to JHS three. I mean, how will a tutor be able to educate children within that condition? It is my prayer and hope that the Ministry of Education would actually look at distributing more tutors into the various schools, especially in the rural areas.
Mr Speaker, one of the reasons why our young men are not in the examination hall as compared to our young girls is that most of them find themselves, unfortunately, in a difficult situation where they go into galamsey and all that. It is my prayer and hope that a year by now, considering the approach by H. E. John Dramani Mahama to this galamsey menace, many of our boys will be back to school.
Mr Speaker, let me use this opportunity to thank you so much for the opportunity to make this Statement and to also wish our children well and to say that this examination is just the beginning of their life, but they have a better life ahead of them.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and God bless you.
Hon Charles Bawaduah
Bongo
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, for the opportunity to contribute to the Statement.
Mr Speaker, the issue of basic education in this country is so serious that it will need a new approach. Just last week, I had the opportunity to be in my constituency, Bongo, to distribute mathematical sets to BECE students, and the things I saw were very terrible. We have classrooms without desks, tables, and chairs, and the students sit on the floor.
Mr Speaker, as if that is not enough, you will see two classes sharing one classroom. For example, classes 1 and 2 will be in one classroom, and classes 3 and 4 will be in one classroom. In this circumstance, you cannot have effective teaching and learning. I think that there must be a new approach where there is targeted provision of facilities to places, especially the rural areas, such as some rural areas in Bongo, my constituency.
Mr Speaker, indeed, what is more disturbing is that these same students who lack teachers and facilities will compete in the same examination with their colleagues in the cities who have all the facilities that they need. These same people, after they have written the examination and having gotten low grades, will again compete with those who have had high grades to get to schools through the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
In the end, they end up getting the low-grade schools and their lives remain there. Some end up not completing school, and they do other things. If we are to have an even educational system in this country, there must be an approach where the facilities are evenly provided to all the districts and communities, so that they can have effective learning.
I further propose, Mr Speaker, that there should be some incentives for teachers who will accept to teach in these rural areas, thereby making sure that we are able to attract the necessary teachers we need for those rural areas.
Mr Speaker, with these words, I thank you very much for the opportunity.
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