Thirty-four prisoners take the BECE 2024 exam.

Thirty-four prisoners are participating in this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

The BECE, organized annually in Ghana’s education system, marks the transition from Junior High Schools to Senior High Schools and Technical Institutions in Ghana.

The candidates, all males, include 27 juveniles from the Senior Correctional Centre (SCC), 5 from Nsawam Maximum Security Prison, and 2 from Sunyani Central Prison.

In an interview, the Greater Accra Regional Public Relations Officer, DSP Loretta Valentina Amoah, mentioned that the inmates have been fully prepared by qualified, trained teachers of the service and some from the Ghana Education Service.

She expressed optimism that the inmates would pass all the subjects and excel.

DSP Valentina Amoah also highlighted challenges such as inadequate teaching and learning materials, which impede the inmates’ preparation process for upgrading themselves.

She urged the public to support the inmates, especially the juveniles, by donating materials such as textbooks and past exam questions to enhance their studies and make learning enjoyable.

In an interview, some of the inmate candidates expressed confidence that this year’s BECE would be one of the best due to their thorough preparation by the teachers.

They commended the teachers for their hard work and promised to make them proud.

In its quest to fulfill its reformation and rehabilitation mandate in line with modern universal best practices, the Ghana Prisons Service introduced formal education to inmates on a pilot basis at the Senior Correctional Centre in 2007. This initiative was later extended to other prisons.

The goal was to help inmates acquire basic literacy skills and obtain certificates to facilitate their smooth reintegration into society.