Over 200,000 candidates begin written phase of GCE today.

According to official figures obtained from the GCE Board, this year’s session has witnessed a significant increase of 8.6% of the number of registered candidates countrywide. 

In concrete terms, some 17,000 additional candidates registered for the exams, compared to that of 2024. 

As per regional statistics, Littoral Region sits on top of the table with 49,829 candidates, followed closely by the Centre Region with 49,646 and the South West Region with 48,662 candidates.

The North West Region, for its part, has registered 33,742 candidates this year, making a 10.58% increase from 2024.

Hours to the start of the examination session, the Head of the GCE Board Transition Management Team, Bernadette Ndi, said the institution is well prepared for the exercise.

Speaking to CRTV’s Sunday magazine programme, Cameroon Calling, Bernadette Ndi said all necessary measures to ensure a smooth conduct of the examinations have been put in place.

“We organised service trainings, through pre-examinations meetings, on the 30th of May and the 31st. These meetings are such that rules and regulations for the conduct of the GCE Board examinations are listed. This is to ensure that everybody involved at every level during this written phase should be doing so under the same conditions. During the meetings, we revised the modalities on the specific regulations for the conduct of the GCE Board examinations…we have appointed centre authorities. Centre authorities for the written phase are…superintendents, chief of accommodation centres…,” she explained.

Commenting on the practical phase of the exams, the official noted that: “Of the 216 subjects that the GCE Board is going to assess in this 2025 examination year, just about 1/5 of them have practical phases and this has actually gone on well”. 

Meanwhile, on the issue of payment of 

outstation allowances, the GCE Board official, said there are no major concerns. She said the Board has always ensured that examiners get paid for the services offered.

“As far as examination dues are concerned, we have always made sure that what we call script dues are paid immediately the examiners finish marking. When the script data is submitted, the script data indicates how many scripts an examiner has marked and payment is calculated on the agreed sum…the sum due the examiners is immediately paid. We also have transport due which is refunded. The only due that is not paid immediately is what we refer to as examiners’ 

out of station due but before they come for the exercise, it is often understood that this will be paid sometime later. There is a Memorandum of Understanding, MoU, that they sign,” she said.

This article was first published in The Guardian Post Edition No:3463 of Tuesday June 03, 2025