The written phase of various examinations organized by the Cameroon General Certificate of Education Board, CGCE has been unfolding hitch-free in accommodation Centres across the country.
The standards of the exams which began two weeks ago countrywide have remained intact.
The exams are taking place in strict respect of COVID-19 barrier measures.
Some 170,483 candidates are taking part at the written phase of the exams which are unfolding in 336 GCE examinations accommodations centres and 97 Technical Vocational Education Examination, TVEE examinations accommodations centres.
Compared to 154,149 candidates who registered for the exams last year, this year’s exercise witnessed a marked increase of 16,334 candidates.
For the GCE Advanced Level, some 13, 263 candidates are sitting the exams this year, a figure which has witnessed an increase of 2,254 candidates.
Meanwhile 93,643 candidates, according to official figures registered for the 2021 GCE Ordinary Level with 55,580 others taking part at the TVEE Intermediate level exams.
For the TVEE Advanced Level, some 7,997 candidates are putting pen on paper.
Reports indicate that the exercise has so far been without hitches in examinations Centres across the country.
While visiting some centres in Yaounde during the kick-off of the exams, Secondary Education Minister, Professor Nalova Lyonga appreciated the conduct of the exercise.
Minister Lyonga had hailed candidates are respecting measures put in place by organisers of the exams.
“They all started at the same time and will finish at the same time. You could see that before we came, they were all settled in their classrooms, all ready to begin. They all had water to wash their hands and masks”, the Minister said.
Serene atmosphere in NW, SW
Although the North West region is facing security challenges due to the ongoing armed conflict in the Anglophone regions of the country, school authorities said at the start of the exercise that the number of candidates who sat the Ordinary Level exam on day one moved from 14,000 to over 20,000 candidates in 50 examination centres.
Over 6000 additional candidates are sitting this year’s session of the exam compared to the 2020 session in the same region.
The GCE exam was written on day one in all the seven Divisions of the North West region, amidst tight security.
Over in the crisis-hit South West region, thousands of GCE Ordinary and Advanced Level candidates are sitting the exams in an atmosphere described as serene and calm.
Apart from a few absences and late comers, examiners say the candidates have been keeping to the rules and regulations of the exam.
A total of 30,141 candidates are sitting the June session of the GCE Ordinary and Advanced Level in the South West region.
In addition to that number are 7146 candidates writing the Technical Vocational Education, TVE Intermediate exams.
