A total of 8,578 candidates are writing the West Africa Secondary Schools Certificate Examination (WASSCE) across 34 centres in the Upper West Region under strict COVID-19 safety protocols.

This comprised 4,320 boys and 4,258 girls.

Mr Justine Kpan, the Upper West Regional Public Relations Officer (PRO) for the Ghana Education Service disclosed this to the Ghana News Agency in Wa.

He said the examination was conducted under strict COVID-19 protocols to avoid exposing the students to the spread of the virus.

The PRO disclosed that they had received more than enough Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) from government and had since distributed some to the schools.

“We expect that they would exhaust them after one week so the plan is that we will replenish the schools after every week”.

“We have placed veronica buckets with liquid soap at the entrance of each center and each candidate is expected to wash his or her hands before being allowed into the examination hall and when coming out of the hall”, he explained.

Mr Kpan added that it was mandatory for all candidates to also put on their nose mask before they were allowed into the examination hall.

We believe with all the protocols in place, the students were comfortable and confident to come out of their exams successfully.

The WASSCE, which started on Monday, July 20, 2020 is expected to end on Friday, September 4, 2020.