A total of 1,649 final year students from 38 public and 18 private schools are expected to write this year's Basic Education Certificate Examination ( BECE) in the Sefwi-Akontombra District of the Western North region.

Of the figure, 951 are males and 698 are females.

Akontombra senior high school, Nsawora-Edumafua community senior high school, Esaase, Ackaakrom and Nkwadum are the selected examination centres.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency at Nsawora on preparations ahead of the examination on Monday, Mr Thomas Koffie, Akontombra District Director of Education, said the directorate had adequate measures to ensure smooth conduct of the examination.

He cautioned headteachers against the collection of illegal fees from the candidates since the government had taken care of all expenses concerning the examination.

Mr Koffie called on parents and guardians to report any teacher, who collects unapproved fees to the education directorate for the necessary actions to be taken.

He cautioned headteachers who might have taken monies from parents to refund them else they would be sanctioned.

The District Director of Education advised the students to revise what they were taught and to desist from examination malpractices.

In a related development, Mr Alex Djornobuah Tetteh, Member of Parliament for the area and Deputy Western North Regional Minister has presented 1,649 mathematical sets to the education directorate for distribution to all the BECE candidates in the district.

According to him, this was the fourth time he was giving out mathematical sets to BECE candidates since he became Member of Parliament for the Akontombra constituency.

He called on invigilators to be professional and desist from intimidating the candidates so that they could have a free mind to write the examination.

The MP called on the candidates to obey all rules governing the conduct of the examination to pass well to enjoy the Free Senior High School Education.