Dr Peter Attafuah, the Brong-Ahafo Regional Director of Education has warned that teachers who would be caught assisting candidates to cheat in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) would be sanctioned.

He told the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Sunyani that any such offender would not be retained in the region. They would be given an open release letter to look for a school elsewhere.

Dr. Attafuah said the Regional Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES) was doing everything possible to ensure there were no examination malpractices in the area.

They would not allow any teacher to tarnish the image of the region through selfish interest.

He asked that all should abide by the West African Examination Council’s rules and regulations governing the conduct of examination. Candidates should refuse to cut corners since that would be be helpful to their future. He encouraged the candidates, not to panic but revise their notes since they would not be examined on anything different from what they had been taught.

He reminded parents and guardians to encourage their children and wards to have the “can do spirit” to pass and move to the next level of the education ladder.

Mr. Samuel Opoku Adjei, the Regional Public Relations Officer of GES said a total of 44,697 candidates consisting of 22,176 males and 22,521 females were writing the examination but the 2018 figure was 35,554.

This showed an increase of 9,143 candidates over the previous year's total.

The candidates are from 334 private schools and 76 public schools and the examination is being held in 99 centres across the Ahafo, Bono and Bono East Regions.