Final-year Senior High School students across the country will, from Monday, 20 July 2020, begin the West African Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).

Some 375, 737 students are expected to sit the exam.

They will also be the first batch of the government’s free SHS beneficiaries to sit the WASSCE.

In a goodwill message to the candidates, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo said every Ghanaian acknowledges that education is the key to the future of the country and “we, therefore, must do everything possible, even in the midst of a pandemic, to guarantee the prospects of our youth, protect their potential, and, thereby, help preserve our collective future.”

The President urged everyone associated with the conduct of the final examinations, that is teaching and non-teaching staff, invigilators and students, to abide by the enhanced hygiene, mask-wearing and social-distancing protocols as the country fight to defeat COVID-19.

Nana Akufo-Addo wished the students “the best of luck and Godspeed” in their examination.

Similarly, former President John Mahama, the flag bearer of Ghana's biggest opposition party, the National Democratic Congress, also in a goodwill message to the students, said although “this is certainly not the best of times to sit an exit examination,” the students must “bear in mind that you have made yourself, your parents and the entire nation proud for your outstanding courage to write at this time.”

The former President said Ghana has, for successive years, been known and celebrated for producing the best WASSCE results in West Africa, and that is why, the candidates, “even before stepping into the examination hall, are already our heroes. Nothing can change that.”

Mr Mahama reminded the candidates that his “prayers and that of over 30 million Ghanaians will stay with you every single day until the examination is over.”

He also advised the candidates to remember to observe the COVID-19 protocols before, during and after the exams.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has pulled out of this year’s WASSCE, citing health concerns with regard to the COVID-19 pandemic.

WASSCE is a West African examination for final-year high school students written by Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, The Gambia, and Liberia.