21,289 sitting for WASSCE in the Eastern Region.

Koforidua, May 17, GNA- The Eastern Regional Controller of the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), Mr. Stanley Senyo Akuaku, has attributed the incident-free conduct of the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations in the region so far to a number of remedial actions taken by the council to improve on its services.

He said a number of programmes organized for candidates by the council to remind them of examination offences and the punishment that goes with such breaches seem to be bearing fruits.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Koforidua on Wednesday, Mr. Akuaku also attributed the smooth conduct of the examination to the adequate security arrangements at the various centers and depots throughout the region.

In addition, he said, the council is constantly entreating supervisors to remind candidates to report suspicious characters who come to them peddling fake examination papers to the school authorities for the necessary action to be taken.

On the number of students sitting for examinations this year, Mr. Akuaku said there had been a near ten percent increase in the number from 19,201 in 2006 to 21,289 this year.

The New Juaben Municipality with eight schools leads the pack with 2,947 candidates followed by the Kwahu South District, which has 2,825 students writing at nine centres.

The Kwahu North district presented the least number of 300 candidates for its two schools sitting at the same centre at Donkorkrom, the district capital.

In an interview with the GNA, the Assistant Headmaster in charge Academics at the Effiduase-Koforidua Pope John's Junior Seminary and Secondary School, Mr. Mathias Kudiabor, expressed his satisfaction with the conduct of the exams so far, saying there had not been any hitches as well as malpractices by the 498 students writing their papers at the school.

The story was similar at the Koforidua Secondary-Technical School where an Assistant Headmaster, Mr. Samuel Foli described the examinations as having been very peaceful. 17 May 07