A total of 59 candidates, 28 males and 31 females out of 575 for this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) at the T.I Ahmadiyya Secondary School at Gomoa Potsin failed to turn up. This was disclosed to the Gomoa District Chief Executive, Madam Joyce Aidoo, when she visited some BECE centres in the District. Madam Aidoo was unhappy with the high number of absentees. She said: “If one centre alone can record such a number what about the remaining nine centres.” “We do not seem to value education, last year 15 schools scored zero per cent and this year the students will not even turn up to write the examination,” she stated. The DCE called on the District Education Directorate to furnish the District Administration with a list of absentees with reasons. “How many times do we want the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC) to conduct research into the poor performance of our schools in examinations,” the DCE exclaimed. Madam Aidoo appealed to parents, teachers, students and staff of the inspectorate unit of the District Education Directorate to strive harder to save the image of education in the district. She expressed the District Assembly's determination to invest more to improve the standard of education and called for the collaboration of all stakeholders in the effort. She advised the students at the centres not to indulge in examination malpractices and encouraged them not to "fear" the examination. The DCE urged the invigilators and supervisors to be fair and firm without creating anxiety in the students. The DCE was informed that Mr Gabriel Nubieku, Proprietor of the Miraton International School also at Potsin failed to register six of the 26 final year students for the examination even though he had collected registration fees from them. The case is with the Police and the DCE said, “I will not like to take the sail out of their wings” but gave the assurance that she would ensure that the six students received free tuition to register for the next BECE without any cost to their parents or guardians. Source: GNA