Bolgatanga, Jan 6, GNA - some candidates who wrote the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in 2010 from the Upper East Region could not be placed into Senior High Schools and Technical Institutions. This is because they were not given the opportunity to write the "Gurune Language" as an elective subject to represent the Ghanaian lang= uage requirement.

The Headmaster of the Bolgatanga Senior Secondary School, Mr. Didacus Afegra, said this at the National Delegates conference of the Bolgatanga, Nabdam Bongo and Tongo (BONABOTO) Association held in Bolgatanga. Mr. Afegre, who is also the Regional Chairman of BONABOTO, expressed worry at the trend and explained that all over the country the BECE candidates wrote more than one elective subject out of which the best grade= s in any one of them was selected and used for grading and placement purposes= .. "Our candidates wrote only one elective subject. Any candidate who fai= led in this elective subject was not placed into Senior High School or Technica= l Institute," he said. He appealed to the Upper East Regional Minister, Mr. Mark Woyongo, to facilitate the approval and the introduction of the 93Gurune Language= " as an examinable subject at the BECE by the Ghana Education Service and West Africa Examinations Council.

Mr. Afegra said he did not understand why several appeals made by people on different platforms for Gurune to be approved to be written as an elective subject at the BECE had not been heeded to. "We have provided sufficient books and other reading materials including a dictionary. We also have many teachers teaching the Language,= " he said. Mr Afegre declared the Association's support for the Regional Minister to purchase government low cost houses in the region and to rehabilitate them to serve as accommodation for government workers especially those from outside the Region. He said BONABOTO had identified three separate tracks of land at Sherigu and Winkongo that could be used to put up a new regional hospital whilst the current Regional hospital could be become a Municipal Hospital. In a related development the Paramount Chief of the Bongo Traditional Area, Naba Baba Salifu Aleemyaarum, said the youth from the area must be given the chance and necessary encouragement to study the 93Gurune."