Some 77,227 candidates are sitting the examination in the North West Region.

Monday June 1, 2015, marked the beginning of the writing of the Cameroon General Certificate of Education GCE and related examinations nationwide.

In Bamenda, capital of the North West Region, the examination took off with no major incidents reported. During Cameroon Tribune’s visit to some of the major centres in town, everywhere was quiet.

At the entrance of Progressive Comprehensive High School, PCHS Bamenda, the biggest centre in the country, were school bags, pullovers, covered shoes, telephones and other personal gadgets.

“Students were told not to come with these items, but as stubborn as they are, most of them did. As such, they were asked to leave them out of the gate before entering the school campus,” explained the Principal and Chief of Centre for PCHS Bamenda, Azeh David Mofor.

He further explained that despite the large number, each student was searched before entering the writing hall to ensure that they did not take along pre-prepared material. Azeh David Mofor indicated that his centre has 5,077 candidates in both Ordinary and Advanced General and Technical education subjects.

They are distributed as follows: Ordinary Level General 2,071 candidates, Ordinary Level Technical 549, Advanced Level General 1,697 and Advanced Level Technical, 760. He said all the 10 superintendents from the GCE Board and all invigilators were present by 6 am and the first papers for all the examinations started at 8:05 am.

Another big examination centre visited was Government Bilingual High School, GBHS Ntamulung, Bamenda. The Principal and Chief of Centre, Tangie Suh Nfor, explained that he has 1,600 candidates for both the ‘O’ and ‘A’ Levels; with 445 for the Baccalaureate. He said all three superintendents from the GCE Board were present, with all invigilators already at work, adding that candidates started writing at 8:20 am.

Tangie Suh Nfor said there were a few absences and no major incidents. As at press time, ‘A’ and ‘O’ Level candidates were writing Economics Paper 1 while some ‘A’ Level candidates were writing Geology.

Statistics from the GCE Board in Bamenda indicate that 77,227 candidates registered for the GCE in the North West Region in 2015.