Eleven candidates out of a total of 1,670 final year Senior High School students registered for the West Africa Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in the Bolgatanga municipality of the Upper East Region, have failed to show up for the exams.

The 11 candidates are from four Senior High Schools (SHS) in the Municipality, Zamse Senior High/ Technical School, Bolga-Sherigu Day Senior High School, Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School and the Bolgatanga Technical Institute.

At the Zamse Senior High/Technical School, the Assistant Head Master in charge of Academics, Mr Blaise Dery, told the GNA that five students out of the 388 registered candidates did not report to school since the re-opening of schools for final year students across the country.

According to Mr Dery, 23 students who reported for the examination without face masks were isolated from their colleagues and wrote the papers in a separate class room.

 “Even though these students breached the Covid-19 protocols, we still have to allow them to write the exams under isolation for the protection and safety of their colleagues and staff”, he said.

At the Bolgatanga Technical Institute, where 752 candidates were registered for the final examination, three of them were absent, while two students out of 501 registered at the Bolgatanga Girls Senior High School, failed to turn up for the examination.

All the four schools visited by the GNA in the Municipality put in place all the Covid-19 safety measures, Veronica buckets with soap and tissue for washing hands and students and invigilators had their face masks on.

Some of the students who spoke with the GNA were excited that they were finally writing the examinations, which were suspended due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.