A total of 600,714 candidates will tomorrow sit for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for School and Private Candidates.

The figure comprises 300,323 males and 300,391 females from 18,993 participating schools.

The 5-day examination will be undertaken under the supervision of the West African Examination Council (WAEC).

The exam will commence at 9am to 3pm and nine subjects will be written in total. However, candidates with visual and hearing impairments are to be allowed an additional 50% of the time allotted to other candidates. Ahead of the exam, the Council released the various topics to be studied.

Subjects to be written on Monday, August 7, are Religious and Moral Education 2 (Essay), Religious and Moral Education 1 (Objective), English Language 2 (Essay), and English Language I (Objective).

According to WAEC, both Papers 2 & 1 for each subject will be taken at one sitting without break.

“Where the duration indicated on the question paper differs from what is on the timetable, the one on the question paper should be followed”, WAEC added.

On Tuesday, the candidates will be examined on Integrated Science and Ghanaian Language and Culture.

Social Studies and Basic Design and Technology will be written on the third day. On the fourth day, August 9, the candidates will sit for Mathematics and Information and Communication Technology.

The last day, being Friday, the candidates will sit for just one subject, French. The students will commence at 9am and conclude at 10:45am.

Meanwhile, WAEC has announced that it will disqualify BECE candidates found to have been illegally registered.

This comes after the Council discovered that some parents moved their children from private schools to public schools to be registered while they were yet to complete the JHS education.

The number of candidates that registered for this year’s BECE (SC) is 8.8% higher than the 2022 entry figure of 552,276.

With regards to the BECE for private candidates, a total entry figure of 1,743 candidates was recorded and this is made up of 889 males and 854 females. This year’s figure is 5.4% higher than the entry figure of 1,132 for 2022.