A total of 509,824 final-year students from public and private Junior High Schools in the country will today [Monday] June 4, 2018, take part in the Basic Education Certificate Examination. (BECE)
The week-long exams is expected to end on Friday June 8, 2018.
The figure represents an increase of 41,771 over last year’s figure of 468,053 candidates.
The 2018 candidates are from 16,060 public and private basic schools and are made up of 263,295 males and 246,529 females.
They will write the examination at 1,772 centres across the country.
According to statistics available to Prime News Ghana, 66 visually impaired candidates will sit for the examination.
Some 497,016 candidates will write the information and communication technology (ICT), paper.
The Ashanti Region will, as usual, present the highest number of candidates - 105,608 made up of 54,487 males and 51,121 females, while the Greater Accra Region will have 88,353 candidates which comprise 42,643 males and 45,710 females.
The Central Region has 54,639 candidates (28,128 males and 26,511 females) while the Western Region has 53,486 candidates (28,228 males and 25,253 females), with the Brong Ahafo Region presenting 48,133 candidates (25,480 males and 22,653).
The Eastern Region will present 46,993 candidates (24,512 males and 22,481 females) while the Northern Region and the Volta Region have 43,232 (23,864 males and 19,368 females) and 35,924 (19,241 males and 16,683 females) candidates respectively.
The Upper East Region will present 21,143 candidates (10,422 males and 10,721 females), with the Upper West Region presenting 12,313 candidates (6,290 males and 6,023 females).