About 260 pupils from four communities at Bindi South in the Bunpkurugu–Yunyoo district of the Northern region failed to sit for the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) following a misunderstanding between chiefs and regional education authorities over location of examination centers.
The candidates including 70 candidates from Kanbatiak Junior High Schoo, Guanging 51, Gbingbamong 79 and 18 Yenupinii were prevented from traveling to Gbankoni primary school center to write the exams by the chief of Kanbatiak and some residents after education authorities failed to provide a closer center to the communities despite initial pledges.
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According to reports by Accra-based Kasapa FM, Kolan Bentuaka, a staff at the District Education Directorate, the chief of Kanbatiak which is the largest community in the area, complained about the troubles the candidate in his town go through every year to write the exams and so he pleaded for a closer examination center.
He said an agreement was reached between the chief and the Education Authorities in the region for a new center.
The new center was however sent to the Gbankoni community with center code 81410 angering the chief and some parents who did not understand why the center was given to Gbankoni instead of Kanbatiak which has larger number of registered students and infrastructure and so prevented the candidates from traveling to the new center to write the exams.
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The chief did not understand why the center was given to the Gbankoni community instead of Kanbatiak which has bigger number of students writing the exam with many infrastructures.
"The chief of Gbankoni applied by written form to the Ghana Education Service and also the chief of Kanbatiak also went and verbally informed them of a center. The BNI was dispatched and they found that the Gbankoni has all it takes for the center.
"Just about the time the exam was about to start, it erupted that the students were refusing to write the exam at Gbankoni. What is happening is that, they refused to come and write the exam- and they didn’t go. The parents denied their wards coming to write the exam: so currently as I speak to you, because they did award them the center when I went to the center, only one students from Kambatiak came to write," Kolan narrated.