The Ghana Education Service (GES) has announced that candidates for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will begin selecting their preferred second-cycle schools from Monday, July 20 to Friday, August 7, 2026. Regional directors of education have been instructed to notify all metropolitan, municipal, and district directors within their jurisdictions to ensure full participation in the exercise.
In a circular dated July 6, 2026, and signed by Prince Agyemang-Duah, Director of the Schools and Instructions Division, the GES invited these directors to attend a nationwide training and sensitisation programme on the 2026 Selection Guidelines and Placement Procedures. The training, scheduled from Wednesday, July 15 to Tuesday, July 29, 2026, aims to provide a deeper understanding of the guidelines and equip directors to offer effective oversight throughout the school selection process.
Unlike in the past years, when candidates selected second-cycle schools before sitting for the BECE, the policy has been revised this year to enable candidates to access their performance and strengths before making their choices.
This year’s BECE candidates would be required to choose two Category ‘A’ senior high schools, one with boarding houses, and the other a day school within their district for the next phase of their education. The adjustment is part of measures to improve the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) to ensure smoother placement after the release of results, and to address repeated placement challenges under the CSSPS programme. In all, candidates would choose eight SHSs this year instead of seven as it was last year.
The BECE was written from May 4, 2026, to May 11, 2026.
In all, 620,141 candidates, comprising 304,349 boys and 315,792 girls, representing an increase in last year’s figure by almost 2.7 per cent from 20,395 schools, sat for the examination across the country. The examination was conducted in 2,303 centres across the country, supervised by 2,303 supervisors, supported by 2,070 assistant supervisors and 21,791 invigilators.
The GES expressed firm assurance that all qualified candidates would be placed. It said in May this year that comprehensive arrangements had been put in place to accommodate every qualified student into second cycle school when the 2026 academic year begins on September 18.
In a statement dated May 14, 2026, the service urged the public to disregard reports that painted a completely different picture that had been circulated on social media, especially. “The report circulating in sections of the media suggesting that about 72,000 students risk not being placed is speculative and does not reflect the reality.
We, therefore, urge the public to disregard it,” the GES said. The service said all qualified candidates would be placed in senior high schools and technical institutions, adding that sufficient infrastructure and facilities had been made available nationwide to absorb incoming students.
Source: Emmanuel Bonney
