This year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) is being taken by thirty-four inmates.
Every year, the BECE serves as a milestone in Ghana’s educational system, signifying the advancement of junior high schools into senior high schools and technical institutions.
All of the candidates are male and come from three different prisons: Sunyani Central Prison, Nsawam Maximum Security Prison, and 27 juvenile offenders from the Senior Correctional Centre (SCC).
DSP Loretta Valentina Amoah, the Greater Accra Regional Public Relations Officer, stated in an interview that the detainees have received extensive preparation from the Ghana Education Service as well as from certified, experienced teachers in the service.
She had high hopes that the prisoners would excel in every subject and graduate with honors.
DSP Valentina Amoah further emphasized that obstacles like poor instructional resources make it difficult for prisoners to get ready to improve themselves.
She called on the public to support the prisoners, particularly the young ones, by donating resources like textbooks and practice exams to help them succeed in school and have fun while learning.
Interviews with several of the prisoner candidates indicated that, because of their teachers’ extensive preparation, this year’s BECE will be among the best.
They pledged to make the teachers proud and thanked them for their efforts.
In an effort to fulfill its responsibility for reformation and rehabilitation in accordance with contemporary, worldwide best practices, the Ghana Prisons Service began offering formal education to prisoners in 2007 at the Senior Correctional Centre. Later, it was expanded to the other prisons.
This was done to assist the prisoners in obtaining a certificate and some basic literacy skills that would help with their seamless reintegration.
The first group, consisting of 21 juveniles and young criminals, passed the 2009 Basic Education Certificate Examination with a perfect score of 100%. Since then, they have continued to pass the exam with a perfect score.
51 inmates nationwide took the BECE exam last year and received a perfect score of 100 percent.
