GES charging BECE graduates 70p to confirm schools is wrong

Latest Education News Opinion on BECE school verification: GES charging BECE graduates 70p to confirm schools is wrong

When the GES announced that 2021 BECE graduates who are waiting for their results and school placements can check to confirm the schools they selected during the final phase of their BECE registration, it was welcome news.

However, it has turned out that, each candidate will have to pay 70 pesewas to obtain a valid token to check and confirm the accuracy of the data captured on their behalf by schools.

The amount involved may look small however, this process should be free for candidates who will be required to pay for result checkers and school placement checkers later on to access their results and the secondary schools they have been placed in by the end of February and March 2022.

A total of 571,894 students from over 18,000 public and private Junior High Schools (JHSs) across the country sat for the WAEC administered BECE in 2021. This means that GES will obtain about  GHS400325.8 (GHS0.70 X 571,894) from this exercise.  Ghanaeducation.org is of the opinion that this call for students and parents to verify the school data should be offered to candidates at no extra cost to them.

Strangely the GES in announcing the checking, confirmation, and correction of errors in school data of candidates did not indicate in its communique that, those who intend to verify their schools will pay for the token.

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It is important that information regarding payment for accessing the data is not concealed from the general public especially fees to be charged no matter the amount involved.

Schools are required to make the necessary corrections for students who may have issues with their captured school file data. If these Junior High Schools will not pay extra money to the GES and or WAEC for these corrections, why charge students for taking the pain to verify the accuracy of entries that were made on their behalf by their respective schools?

READ:How to check and confirm 2021 BECE School placement choices

Unfortunately, many students, parents, and teachers have tried to access school data on the portal but have not been successful since the release was made. Many have paid for the token which they are yet to receive.