Some Junior High School students in Kumasi are confident they will come out with flying colours in this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE). 

The students say they have prepared adequately for the exams and are optimistic to obtain good results.

The examination commenced on Monday across 2,158 examination centres in the country. 

The standardised examination is to test pupils who have completed their basic school education and seek to continue with senior high school education.

Some pupils of the 693 candidates who sat for their papers at the T.I. Ahmadiyya SHS examination centre shared their experiences. 

They indicated they have prepared adequately for the examination and are confident to excel in the exams. 

“The first paper went pretty well. We answered a lot of questions back at school. The students are also very hard working. So we solved a lot of past questions, and the questions that came were not new. They repeated a lot of the questions.

"We just had to learn. I expect the same for the second paper," one of the candidates said.

Another candidate revealed that “originally, I was afraid about writing the BECE. Because, everyone had their own perception about the exams. But, after my first paper I was relieved because the exam is just like any normal exam”.

The Ashanti Region presented the largest number of candidates sitting for the BECE.

The region presented 111,432 candidates, representing 21.53% of the 517,332 which is the total number of candidates nationwide.

Deputy Public Relations Officer at the Education Ministry, Yaw Oppong Mensah indicated that his outfit, the Ghana Education Service, and other relevant stakeholders are working collaboratively to ensure the exam is run smoothly.

He admonished the candidates to stick to learning their books and disregard any form of malpractice.

“The Ministry of Education together with the Ghana Education Service and WAEC is poised for action. The expectation is that we run this exam smoothly till the last day, which is on this Friday.

“People will do their normal thing with spreading rumours about leakages, and students will chase after them.

He stressed that "you only have to sit with your books, and refresh all you learned during the 3-year period."

“Hopefully, you will come out successful,” he said.