The Minister of Education, Dr Mathew Prempeh (Napo), has said over 90 per cent of placement into senior high schools (SHSs) and technical and vocational institutes (TVIs) of prospective students has been achieved.
He said this is the best record since the inception of the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) in 2005.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, 18 September 2019 to address the challenges and complaints associated with this year’s enrolment process, Dr Prempeh said: “This year is the best year that we have had since we started in 2005 and the records are there to show”.
Statistics provided by the ministry to buttress his claim suggest that out of a total of 473,728 qualified Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates, 351,022 (74.1%) underwent automatic placements while 81,383 (17.1%) got self-placed representing a total of 432,405 (91.2%) to date.
Out of the total, 156,139 have been placed under the Green track and 87,783 have been enrolled; 144 330 are under the Gold track with 54,915 enrollments while the Single track has 131,936 with 25,941 enrolments.
Aggrieved parents and candidates who had challenges with the placement besieged the Accra Solution Centre set up by the Ghana Education Service (GES) at the Independence Square.
Seven people, including four female students, a pregnant woman and two male students, collapsed during the process and had to be rushed to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital for medication attention, after which they were discharged.
The minister said although the database of the placement system was breached, all the challenges were addressed in time.
He rather blamed some political parties for the chaos, saying they encouraged fake placement seekers to cause mayhem at the venue.
In a related development, the minister said a special programme has been instituted to modify the over 200 community day senior high schools commenced during the Mahama era into boarding facilities.
According to the minister, it was not expedient for the former president to complain over the ineffectiveness of the day schools when, indeed, enrolment in the second-cycle sector is highly driven by boarding facilities.
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