The Ministry of Education in collaboration with Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development would organise mock examinations for all Junior High School finalists to build their confidence for the 2012 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

About 180,000 students, particularly those in the rural areas, would be taken through the mock examinations, at least twice, before their final examination to enable candidates practice “what is required by the West African Examination Council (WAEC) and to experience how questions are answered,” Mr Lee Ocran, Minister of Education, announced on Thursday.

Speaking at the launch of the mock examination project in Accra, Mr Ocran said the project was initiated by the Government in response to the poor performance of BECE candidates as recorded by the 2011 BECE results and was expected to start on Monday, April 2.

Northern Region, with the highest figure of 28,970 beneficiary students, would participate in the project while Greater Accra would present the least population of 3,725 candidates at the mock examination.

Mr Ocran explained that, one of the challenges that came up in the investigation of performances was that most of the candidates who scored low grades in the BECE were mostly from the rural areas and were found to be inadequately prepared for the examination as they lacked experience in answering the questions.

He said the mock examination, if structured and conducted well according to the experts, could be very helpful in preparing candidates for the main examination.

Mr Ocran encouraged the students especially those in the rural areas to approach the BECE with confidence in order to succeed in the 2012 examination.

Mr Samuel Ofosu Ampofo, Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said the Ministry had released funds towards the project and believed that if everything was controlled well, the results would be excellent.

Dr Richard Ofori, Acting Director, National Centre for Research into Basic Education said, the centre would be responsible for the technical and research aspect of the project.

The Global Education Enhancement Ventures (GLEEV) Company and National Centre for Research into Basic Education (NCRIBE) of University of Education, Winneba, have been selected to organise the mock examination project.**