A teenage candidate sitting for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) has made a determined return to continue writing her papers, a day after delivering a baby at the Asenua Presby School exam centre in the Ashanti Region.

The girl, who had reportedly been out of school for weeks due to her pregnancy, was convinced by her headteacher to take part in the exams. But during the ICT paper on Monday, she asked to be excused to use the washroom. It was there that she went into labour.

A policewoman escorting her quickly raised the alarm. She got support from community members, who helped her deliver safely in one of the offices at the exam centre.

“She’s my landlord’s daughter. We saw her coming to write the exam and we saw her use the washroom. She couldn’t walk when she was coming back and I noticed she was in labour so I rushed there. We helped her deliver here before taking her to the hospital. The baby is fine,” said one of the women who assisted.

Another woman narrated, “She hasn’t given birth before, but we realized she was in labour. She couldn’t even walk. We slowly took her to the office, and the women all assisted so the men wouldn’t come there. It was a smooth delivery, but we had to take her to the hospital to remove the umbilical cord.”

The head pastor in charge of Asenua Presby Church, Rev. Kennedy Opoku, intervened and rushed the girl to a private hospital due to the absence of health workers in government hospitals.

“Since nurses are on strike, we thought it right to go straight to a private hospital so that they can attend to her. When we got there, they helped her bring the placenta out. They came to the car on arrival and helped her out of the car,” he recalled.

Despite the ordeal, the young mother returned Tuesday morning to continue with the rest of her papers.

School authorities, prioritising her safety and dignity as a minor, denied any media interaction.

Answering to the question as to whether provisions are made in case of similar situations, the Deputy PRO for the Ghana Education Service (GES), Elizabeth Marfo, who has served in the Mamponteng district for over 15 years, said “for the time I’ve been working as an officer for GES, no; we don’t have that. We always come for the exam but this is my first time observing such.”

Officials say the teenage mother is in stable condition, and arrangements are being made to ensure her comfort and safety throughout the remaining days of the examination.