It would be of interest to know that pregnant pupils and lactating young mothers no longer shy away from participating actively in academic work.

Among the 1,301 candidates who sat the just-ended Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) in the Afadzato South District of the Volta Region were 14 lactating mothers and five pregnant girls.  

In all, 1,313 candidates made up of 689 boys and 624 girls were expected to sit for the papers but 12 could not turn up for the examinations which took place at four centres.  

The Public Relations Officer (PRO) of the District Directorate of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Michael Homenyo disclosed these to The Spectator here on Monday.  

He cited instance in which relatives of some of the lactating mothers brought their babies to the examination centres to be breast-fed by during the breaks between the papers.  

According to him, there were 12 nursing mothers at the Agate centre, two at the Ve-Golokuati centre, while the centres at Logba and Leklebi recorded no such cases.  

There were also three pregnant girls at the Agate centre, one at Ve-Golokuati and another one at Leklebi, the PRO added.  

That, notwithstanding, Mr Homenyo said that the examinations took place smoothly without any untoward incident.   

Meanwhile, the candidate who was nine months pregnant at a centre in the Ho-West District, compelling the district directorate of the GES to provide stand-by vehicle at the centre, just in case she went into labour to able to finish her papers without any problems.  

“We are yet to find out whether she has given birth or not,” the District Director of Education Madam Celestine Korsi-Agordo told this reporter.  

From Alberto Mario Noretti, Ve-Golokuati