Over Five hundred thousand students at the basic level are partaking in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) which begins across the country today.

16,871 schools are presenting students for the exams which will last for five days.

Out of the 517,332 candidates who will write the examination, 263,616 are males, while 153,716 are females.

Meanwhile, the West Africa Examination Council has banned the use of cellular devices by supervisors during the exams.

According to WAEC, the ban had become necessary after the results of a research which established that adults were primary culprits in examination malpractice at all levels of education in the country.

In addition, it said, no supervisor or invigilator would be allowed, under any circumstance, to supervise or invigilate candidates from schools to which the supervisor or invigilator was affiliated.

The Head of the Ghana National Office of WAEC, Mrs Wendy E. Addy-Lamptey, said ordinarily, a candidate would not go out of his or her way to look out for ‘Ap?’ or external help to pass well in an examination, be it the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) or the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

“It is adults who are pushing these little ones to fall into the trap of examination malpractice,” she stated.

She further expressed concern over the fact that there was too much interference by adults in examinations which, she noted, was affecting the performance of candidates.