A total of 10,141 students in Kumasi are sitting for the 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), the Ghana Education Service (GES) has announced.

The figure comprises 5, 117 males and 5, 024 females, who would write the Examination over the next five weeks.

The candidates are billed to write papers on about 60 subjects, covering General Arts, General Science, Business, Agricultural Science, Visual Arts, Home Economics and Technical Skills in the examination, which commenced officially on Monday, August 3.

Mr David Oppong, the Metropolitan Director of Education, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), on the sidelines of a tour of some of the examination centres, said the examination was being written with strict adherence to all the COVID-19 safety protocols.

Consequently, the students were expected to undergo a mandatory body temperature check, hand-washing and the use of hand sanitizers while wearing their nose masks, before being allowed entry into the various centres.

Mr Oppong was happy with the sitting arrangements at the various centres as they conformed to the protocol on social distancing.

Schools visited by the GES’s delegation included Kumasi Wesley Girls’, Serwaa Nyarko Girls’ and Kumasi Girls’ Senior High Schools (SHSs).

Meanwhile, the Metropolitan Chief Executive, Osei Assibey-Antwi, has also toured some of the centres to motivate the candidates as they take another step in their educational career.

He extended the Assembly’s best wishes to the candidates and urged them to stay focused on the task ahead.