The Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection on Friday encouraged parents and teachers to help mitigate the impact of the cancellation of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) papers on students.

“We believe that this unfortunate incident could discourage the students if not managed well, the Gender Ministry stated in a statement copied to the Ghana News Agency, in Accra

“Parents should please note that under such circumstances, children are likely to lose their zest and enthusiasm for the task ahead”.

The Gender Ministry appealed to parents, teachers, and community leaders to encourage and reach out to “the young ones,” who have been affected by this situation and offer the necessary support to ensure that they weather the storm.

“As a Ministry responsible for children, we find events surrounding the cancellation of the papers very unfortunate, and we condemn the leakage in no uncertain terms,” the statement said.

The Ministry said ii supported all efforts being put in by the Ministry of Education and the security agencies to unravel the mystery surrounding these leakages.

“We believe that these efforts will finally bring to a close the frequent leakage of examination papers,” it said.

“We entreat all pupils affected by the cancellation of the papers to stay focused; continue to work hard and to rewrite all the papers. We believe in them and we are confident that with determination, they shall pull through successfully”.

The West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) on June 17, announced the cancellation of yet to be written Social Studies Paper, as well as four other papers.

The four other papers are: Paper Two of English Language, Religious and Moral Education, Integrated Science and Mathematics, WAEC stated in a statement signed by a Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Mrs. Agnes Teye-Cudjoe.

According to WAEC, this decision was as a result of leakages of those papers, especially on social media platform- Whatsapp Messenger.

According to the statement, "in pursuance of its quest to demonstrate its abhorrence for examination malpractice of any sort, safeguard the sanctity of its examinations and integrity of certificates issued, the council has CANCELLED the listed papers."

WAEC has, therefore, rescheduled the cancelled papers to June 29 and 30.

The Council says it has launched investigations into the circumstances leading to the leakage and has promised to deal with anyone found to be complicit.

The 2015 BECE started on Monday with a total of 438,030 candidates participating.

The number of candidates represented an increase of 15,084 over last year’s figure of 422,946 final-year junior high school (JHS) students who registered for the examination.