Bolgatanga, April 12, GNA - Some 16, 340 candidates in the Upper East Region have been presented for this year's Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) of which 8,557 are boys and 7,783 are girls.

The Gbeogo School for the Deaf is participating in the examination for the first time.

In the Bolgatanga Municipality out of the 3,498 candidates, 22 were absent of which 11 boys are and 11 are girls. In the Builsa District out of 986 candidates, two are girls and a boy was absent. In the Kassena Nankana East, out of 1,240 candidates, there were five girls and four boys absent whilst in Kassena West, there were 316 candidates and three of them were absent.

Apart from one death, all the absentee girls were said to be either lactating mothers or pregnant while the boys had migrated to the south to look for jobs.

Mrs Lucy Awuni, Upper East Regional Deputy Minister, who visited the Schools, advised students writing the BECE to take the examinations seriously and not to get into malpractices that would mar the long period of preparation they made to write the examination. Mrs Agnes Atagabe, the Regional Director of Education, said whilst efforts were being made to increase education on adolescent reproductive health in schools, it was necessary that students, the media and all stakeholders support the sector to eliminate absenteeism and teenage pregnancy.