With barely a week to the start of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), students are still finding ways to make up for the lost school hours during lockdown. As part of measures to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, the government of Ghana ordered the closure of schools in March this year. BECE candidates spent almost three (3) months at home with no contact with teachers or course instructors, quite an unpleasant experience for students preparing to take their final exams in basic school. In this interview, Richlove Ansong, a final year student of Osaebo Basic School shares her experience as a BECE candidate in this time of crisis and her plans for the future. Richlove is also one of the beneficiaries of the CPAS sponsorship program.
We know the COVID-19 pandemic has created a lot of problems for people especially BECE candidates like yourself. How has the pandemic affected you personally?
Okay, it has affected me a lot, both at home and at school. At home I will say it has affected my family financially because business activities have come to a standstill and my parents have been seriously hit. Also, we were supposed to write our final exam in June but because of this coronavirus pandemic the exam had to be postponed and this created a lot of uncertainty.
Do you think the timeframe for you to prepare for the BECE is enough?
Well, we were home for three (3) months and resumed on 29th June. I will say fortunately for us, we had treated most of the topics before schools closed down so I used most of my time at home for revision and solving past questions. When school reopened we continued with the revision and I think what we have covered so far is enough to prepare us for the BECE.
Are you confident about the exams you are about to write?
Not that confident but I am hopeful that I will do well.
Where do you hope to continue from here and what course will you like to pursue in senior high school?
I want to find myself in a very good environment, I mean a very good school. I want to read science in senior high school and from what I have heard, there are a couple of schools that do extraordinarily well in science, schools like GHANASS, Accra Girls, Aburi Girls, and Mfantsiman Girls. I will be very happy to attend any of those schools.
Any message to final year students like yourself who are preparing to write the BECE?
All I have to say is that they should work hard and should not panic over the challenges that the coronavirus pandemic has posed to them. They can make it if they make up their mind to work hard.
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