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Mr Lee Ocran, Minister of Education on Monday urged candidates writing the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to be courageous, studious and resist the tendency to cheat as their examinations begin. This, he said, were some of the tenets that could help them excel in the examination and avoid having problems with the laws governing examinations in the country. Addressing newsmen after a tour of some selected examination centres in the Greater Accra Region, Mr Ocran expressed satisfaction with the level of absenteeism recorded in this year�s examinations. The centres visited were the Flagstaff House Basic School Centre, PRESEC Basic School Centre, Accra Girls Senior High School Centre, St Mary�s Roman Catholic Compound Basic School Centre and Korle Gonno Cluster of Schools Centre. Mr Ocran noted that Ghana Education Service (GES) had been tasked to work out modalities to extend the duration of the examinations. At the Flagstaff Basic School at 0845, the candidates were searched before being allowed to enter the examination room, for their examination, which started at exactly 0910 hours with English Paper One. In all, 321 candidates from four schools took their examination at the Flagstaff Basic School Centre. When the Sector Minister reached PRESEC Basic School at exactly 0950, the candidates had finished with English Paper One, which lasted for 45 minutes. About 448 candidates from 10 schools registered to take their examination at the centre with no absenteeism being recorded. At the Accra Girls Senior High School Centre, 478 candidates from six schools sat for the examination with five students failing to report. At the St Mary Roman Catholic Compound Basic School, 248 candidates from eight schools registered for the examination. At the Korle Gonno Cluster of Schools, 206 candidates from six schools registered for the examination with no absenteeism. In another development, Mr John Kwao Sackey, Ga East Municipal Chief Executive toured some Examination Centres in his area to ensure a smooth take off of the BECE examination. They were Calvary International School at Agboba and the Presbyterian Senior High School (PRESEC) near University of Ghana, Legon. Speaking to the candidates before the examination started, Mr Sackey noted that schools from the municipality had always emerged as one of the best in the Greater Accra Region, adding, �Last year the best student in the Greater Accra Region came from Ga East, who won the President's national award.� He said the 2012 candidates were expected to perform better with the support provided by the assembly. �The Municipal Assembly has provided all JHS schools with all the necessary infrastructure, logistics and learning materials to aid the candidates excel in the examination.� Mr Sackey advised the candidates to desist from examination malpractices and called on the supervisors to ensure adequate supply of examination materials to prevent shortage. Ms Florence Damali, Ga East Municipal Director of Education said 5,600 candidates registered for the examination, made up of 3,966 girls and 2,541 boys from 158 schools from 96 private and 62 public schools. She said there were Police officers to ensure that examination materials reached the various centres without delay and well protected. In an interview with some candidates at the centres, they indicated that they were well prepared for the examination, adding, �We are well prepared for the examination, we have gone through three mock examinations which we think would be more difficult than the examination we are going to face.�