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A workshop which brought together Examination Coordinators, Guidance and Counseling Officers, PROs and other major Stakeholders of Education was organized at the various regional capitals to educate and sensitize them on the 2019 school register and selection guidelines which will eventually culminate into school placement for 2019/2020 academic year. 

The Computerized School Selection and Placement System was introduced in 2005 to replace the manual system of selecting students into the various senior high, technical and vocational schools. The overarching objective of this computerized system has been to fully automate the school placement processes in order to reduce human errors and to promote efficiency and fairness in the selection and placement of students in senior high schools in the country.

Since its inception, lack of public education and awareness of the process have been identified as  the major reasons stakeholders, especially candidates and parents, are unable to effectively participate in the annual process. This is because there seem to be low engagement of guidance and counseling on how the schools are selected by BECE candidates, including course or program they intend to pursue, as well as their residential status, among others. 

In 2019, the Ministry of Education has released new guidelines on how the schools are to be selected. These include the following:

1. Candidates can, in accordance with the 2019 school register, select  1st - 5th choice schools from a combination of Categories A, B, C, D and E.

2. List choices 1-4 in order of priority

3. Choice five(5) must be the candidates’ Catchment area day school which is the Category D compulsory day school. This means that the compulsory day school is now restricted to candidates’ 5th Choice. 

Candidates must be guided by this:

1. Choose five(5) schools

2. Select Programme and Residential Status for each choice

3. Remember that candidates’ choices:
   Can include up to 1 Category A school
   Can include up to 2 Category B schools
   Can include up to 4 Category C schools
   Can include up to 5 Category E schools

Discussions at the workshops allowed experts and representatives from GES and the Ministry of Education to address concerns and share experiences on how 2019 BECE Placement into senior high schools is going to be implemented. It is believed that the participants at the workshops would further educate parents, students and the general public about this year’s school selection guidelines.