2 BECE Candidates Killed

Two candidates of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in the Sangnarigu District of the Northern Region were on Sunday, killed by a tipper truck. The students, both females, were said to be returning home after checking their index numbers at the Tamale Senior High School, one of the examination centers, when the tipper truck veered off the road and crushed them to death at a junction close to the school. The northern Regional Director of Ghana Education Service (GES), Paul Apanga, who confirmed this to The Ghanaian Times just before the start of the BECE in Tamale yesterday, said the deceased were students of the Choggu Demonstration Junior High School. He said the bodies, identified as Fadila and Zulia, have been deposited at the Tamae Teaching Hospital morgue. On the examination itself, Apanga said the Regional Directorate of the GES, together with other stakeholders, had instituted the necessary measures to ensure smooth conduct of the examinations in region. He added that security had been beefed up, especially at the conflict or trouble areas such as Bunkprugu, Nakpanduri and Binbilia to ensure that nothing untoward happened to disturb the conduct of the examination at those centers. Mr. Apanga said his outfit had asked all head teachers and supervisors of the Examination in the region not to turn away any female with pregnancy. �No supervisor has the right to prevent any female candidate with pregnancy from writing the examination,� the regional director warned. The Northern Regional Minister, Alhaji Limuna Mohammed Muniru, who visited some of the centers expressed his condolence to the bereaved families and advised the candidates to put the unfortunate incident behind them and focus on the examination. Alhaji Muniru wished the candidates well and success in the examination and advised them to follow strictly the instructions given them by the supervisor to avoid any examination malpractices. He said it was important for them to believe in themselves and not to rely on their friends for help during the papers.