BECE To Be Replaced With Entrance Exams – See Starting Date

The Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said that the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will be replaced with SHS Entrance Exams if the Free SHS Bill is approved by Parliament.

Speaking on GTV Ghana Breakfast show on Thursday, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum explained that the Free Secondary Education bill provides for government-funded resources to ensure free quality secondary education for all children. Under this bill, Junior High School is classified as lower secondary and will no longer be part of basic schools, effectively giving Ghana a six-year secondary education system.

When Is The Entrance Exams Starting?

The Entrance Exams will start once Parliament approves the free SHS Bill. If the Bill is passed this year, there is a high possibility that there will be no BECE next year. This means, 2025 BECE would be replaced with Entrance Exams.

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The minister stated that making secondary education compulsory eliminates the need for the BECE as a certificate exam.

In March, 2024, there were circulations and rumors which claimed that the Ghana Education Service and the Ministry of Education have planned to scrap the BECE.

The Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Dr Eric Nkansah reacted to such claims and made it clear that the BECE will not be scrapped.

He explained that it is moving from the old objectives-based curriculum to the standards-based curriculum, which is likely to change the nature and form of the BECE.

Speaking at a stakeholder engagement on the grading system by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the Director General of GES, Dr. Eric Nkansah, said reports of the purported cancellation of the BECE are untrue.

“We are not cancelling the BECE. What is confusing people or some of our people is that we are now moving away from the old objectives-based curriculum to the standards-based curriculum, and it does not mean that those on the standards-based curriculum will not write BECE. They will also write but perhaps the nature and form may change. So please don’t communicate that we are not writing BECE.” he said.

The Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is conducted by WAEC and serves as a standard exam for junior high school graduates who are about to enter senior high school