A 19-year-old pregnant candidate in the ongoing Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) in a rural community called Kwahu Nketepa in the Eastern Region delivered a baby girl at dawn (2:30am) on Monday June 13 a few hours before her paper started, yet defied the odds to sit for the paper.
Augustina Okronipa commuted from home to the exam centre at St. Paul’s SHS at Kwahu Asakraka (an hour’s journey) in the Kwahu South district, to write the paper hours after she delivered. She returned home to breastfeed the newborn baby after her first paper and travelled back to the centre to write the second paper for the day before making her final journey for the day, back home to be with her fresh baby.
Augustina, according to her aunt, Mama Angie, is not too strong after the delivery, but still manages to traverse the long bumpy road to go and write her BECE. She said the teenager delivered at the Atibie Government Hospital.
The student of Nketepa D/A Primary and JHS told Class FM’s regional correspondent, McAnthony Dagyenga, that she gathered the courage to go write the BECE because it was a crucial step for her academic future.
According to her, she dashes home by taxi right after every first paper to breastfeed the baby and then return to the centre to write the second paper for each day.
Augustina complained that she was experiencing some body and abdominal pains due to her constant movements “but I’m determined to finish writing the papers”.
“I actually thought I could finish writing the examinations before delivering,” she said.
Source: Ghana/AccraFM.com/McAtnhony Dagyenga
