Some Junior High School students in the Chereponi and Saboba townships in the North East Region who fled the conflict returned to sit for the Basic Education Certification Examination (BECE) today.
Some of the candidates who fled during the clash between Chokosis and Konkombas are being accommodated at the examination centres amid heavy security.
[contextly_sidebar id=”INkjndtarAiWQtKZd6EXBcmCBuUr6pqc”]One of the students, who spoke to a reporter with radio Gaaki in Chereponi Mathias Licho, said he had difficulties in writing the exams.
“The English paper was so difficult because we didn’t get a conducive environment to study, because of the conflict and the curfew imposed on us. The military men are always chasing us, most of our teachers ran away,” one student said.
“During the conflict, our teacher ran away, we had to learn on our own, which was very difficult to do. Also, we have parents and relatives we cannot find, we are always thinking, how can we learn,” another said.
Meanwhile, the Northern Regional Education Directorate has said adequate security has been provided to candidates in Chereponi.
Addressing some of the candidates during a visit to some centres, the Northern Regional Director of Education Mohammed Haroon cautioned the candidates not to indulge in exams malpractices.
“In Chereponi enough arrangement has been made for the 64 candidates who are writing the BECE. The regional security council for both Northern region and North East region came together to escort the candidates from the troubled area, Chereponi Senior High where they will be accommodated throughout the period of the exams they are writing and the same security will escort them back to their various community,” he said.
A total of 517,332 candidates from 16,871 schools sat for the 2019 edition of the Basic Education Certificate Examinations at 1,880 centres throughout the country today.