Final-year junior high school (JHS) students throughout the country will take three new subjects on this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School Candidates.
The new subjects are Career Technology, Creative Art & Design, and Arabic. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced that all candidates would write Career Technology and Creative Art and Design, which are based on the old Basic Design and Technology (BDT).
Candidates at Islamic basic schools, on the other hand, will have the option of studying Arabic.
Days extended
Because of the extra courses, the 2024 examination will last six days rather than the previous five days (Monday through Friday). The test will begin on Monday, July 8, 2024, and conclude the following Monday, July 15, 2024.
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To shed more light on the 2024 examination, WAEC’s Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, told the Daily Graphic that new subjects could be introduced at any time because it was a Ghanaian-only examination, and so it was up to the government to decide what it wanted to teach and students to be tested on.
Mr Kapi stated that the council had recently completed candidate registration and would now proceed with the breakdown of applicants writing the various subjects. WAEC, he claimed, was prepared for the examination since all necessary meetings had been completed, and sample questions had been delivered to schools and placed on the council’s website.
“The printing exercise will start very soon, and so we are on course,” he emphasised. In the case of Arabic, he said it was the first time the subject was being examined at the BECE.
He said the topic was best defined as an elective, and that it could also be written by those who thought they were good at it and wanted a certificate to prove it.
Timetable
According to WAEC’s official agenda, applicants will take English Language and Religious and Moral Education exams on Monday, July 8, 2024. On Tuesday, July 9, 2024, candidates will write Science and Computing, which was previously Information, Communication, and Technology (ICT), followed by Social Studies and Creative Art and Design on Wednesday.
Candidates will write Mathematics and Ghanaian Language on Thursday, July 11, 2024, and French and Career Technology on Friday, July 12, 2024.
Arabic will be written on Monday, July 15, 2024.
Prior to enrollment for the BECE for School Candidates, the Ghana Education Service said that the mandatory subjects were English Language, Mathematics, General Science, Social Studies, Religious and Moral Education, Career Technology, and Creative Art and Design.
Ghanaian languages, it added, were designated as elective studies, while French, Arabic, and computing were optional.
Curriculum
This year’s BECE applicants will be the first to take the test using the Common Core Curriculum. In light of this, WAEC stated that the adoption of the curriculum will result in distinct examinations for school and private applicants.
The curriculum seeks to address quality via enhanced learning experiences. The new curriculum aims to push students away from rote learning and toward critical learning abilities.
