82,907 pupils ready for BECE

The Head of National Office of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Sierra Leone Branch, Mr. Sheriff Mohamed Sapateh, has said in Freetown that the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) 2012 will start on Monday, 25^th June, 2012 and end on Wednesday, 4^th July, 2012.
Addressing newsmen yesterday at WAEC’s Tower Hill office in Freetown, Mr. Sapateh revealed that this year they have a candidate entry of eighty two thousand nine hundred and seven (82,907) from five hundred and seventy Junior Secondary Schools countrywide, which he disclosed, represents an increase of 5.58% over the 2011 entry figure of seventy eight thousand four hundred and twenty one (78,421).

Mr. Sapeteh also disclosed that the examinations will be conducted in 184 centres nationwide, adding that new centres have been created including six in the Western Area, three in the Northern Region, one in the Southern Region and two in the Eastern Region. He also stated that two thousand five hundred and eighty seven (2,587) Invigilators and four hundred (400) Supervisors together with the Principals and Teachers from the various secondary schools in the country will oversee the conduct of the examinations, in addition to the WAEC staff that will be manning the distribution and depot centres in the country.
He further revealed that an auxiliary support staff will be drawn from the Ministry of Education, the Local councils, the Office of National Security (ONS) and members of the Armed Forces Educational Centre of the Republic of Sierra Leone Armed Forces will also help in the work while the Sierra Leone Police will be in charge of security.

He outlined the candidate entry per regions as follows: Northern Region-twenty five thousand two hundred and fifty seven (25,257), Southern Region-twelve thousand three hundred and fifty six (12,356), Eastern Region- seventeen thousand four hundred and seventy two (17,472) and Western Area-twenty seven thousand seven hundred and fourteen (17,714).
Mr. Sapateh stressed that all candidates are expected to sit to eight subjects out of the nineteen subjects that are in the secondary school curriculum.
He also told the press that he has solicited the cooperation and support of all Principals to manage the examinations effectively and avoid all forms of examination malpractices during a meeting of the Conference of Principals held on Tuesday, June 19 at the Government Rokel Secondary School, Tower Hill in Freetown.

Mr. Sapateh strongly advised candidates not to take mobile phones, scripts, pieces of paper or foreign materials into the examination hall.
He appealed to the Invigilators and Supervisors to show dedication, commitment and diligence in the conduct of the examinations.
He concluded that they are working assiduously to ensure that the results are out in good time.