When I first saw the news captioned: “BECE candidates to choose schools after results under new system,” attributed to the Minister of Education, Haruna Idrisu, on April 1, 2026, I thought it was ‘April fool.’
Fact is, getting students to make their schools choices after the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) results are released, would not solve any of the myraid of seasonal challenges which confront school placement.
Universities in the country have a similar process.
They give applicants opportunity to make changes in their programme choices when the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) results are released.
The universities further provide cut-off grades for each programme, to guide applicants.
These notwithstanding, many of the top programmes in our universities get over subscribed every admission cycle and becomes topical issue for national discussion.
CSSPS
Senior high school selection is made based on choices by students and their parents, guardians and school authorities, while the computerised school selection and placement system (CSSPS) of the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service (GES), does the placement of candidates into schools based on three key criteria – grade, programme of study and residential preference of candidates.
Candidates select a number of schools, in order of preference, as may be determined by the guidelines.
At all times, however, the guidelines mandate candidates to choose only one school from category ‘A’ and maximum two schools from category ‘B’.
Candidates may, however, select all their choices from category ‘C’.
Students who desire to pursue TVET programmes may also select all three choices from the list of TVET schools.
Since the introduction of free senior high school (FSHS) education in 2017, a major criterion — the compulsory day school option — has been added to the selection process.
Each student is expected to select a day school within their catchment area of 16 kilometres.
The CSSPS ranks all candidates based on merit using their aggregate score.
The system places candidates first, in their category ‘A’ chosen schools and ensures a candidate is placed in one of their chosen schools – category A-D, as the case may be.
The total vacancy declared by the school, programme vacancy and residential preference of a candidate are, however, the major determinants in whether a candidate would be placed in their selected school or not, irrespective of their grade.
Placement complexities
The bare fact is that the number of candidates who qualify and are interested in pursuing a given programme in their prefered schools always far outnumber the programme and residential vacancies in the school.
In theory, there is no cut-off point for admission into senior high school, in practice, though, there is an in-built cut-off point for each school and for each programme in the school.
The schools choice list for that same year, 2020, showed that 40,323 candidates selected a school as either their first, second or third choice.
Meanwhile, the school declared total vacancy of 650. Of this number, about 200 was allocated to General Science.
Normally, a candidate, who obtains aggregate eight, and chooses general science should gain admission into our sample school above.
However, if just one per cent of the total, who selected the school obtain aggregate six to eight and opt for general science, chances are that a total of one hundred applicants would not be admitted into the school for a number of reasons.
If a candidate qualifies by merit and the programme of choice has vacancy in their prefered school, then, the system checks the male/female residential preference for available space.
If there is no available space based on the residential preference, they miss their top prefered school. The candidate is moved to next choice of school and so forth.
Protocol admissions
The greatest issue which tends to marr the placement process is the quest and insistence by parents and their children that they are placed in their first choice school, usually a category A or top B.
The process is further complicated by protocol admissions; an exception which has now become a norm.
Nearly half of placement into category A and top B schools end up being done outside of the CSSPS through protocol admissions.
The quest by parents and their children to make changes in their placement and the abuse of protocol admissions are indeed the immediate issues that should concern the Hon Minister of Education and his team.
Our best bet in resolving this perennial challenge completely is to have a determined national programme of action to raise the standards and quality of our secondary schools to the level of category A and top B, the schools we all desire our children to attend.
The period of school selection either before or after the release of results is indeed less of the problems that confront schools placement.
The writer is a Professor and a former Director-General of Ghana Education Service.
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Source:
www.graphic.com.gh