The Ministry of Education has warned parents and guardians against paying anyone who claims they can secure a senior high school (SHS) placement for their children under the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS). “Placement is free. Do not pay anyone who says they can help you with placement. Anyone who asks for money in exchange for placement is a fraudster and should be reported to the police immediately,” stated Dr. Clement Apaak, the Deputy Minister of Education.
CSSPS goes live
In an interview conducted ahead of the placement period, which officially begins today, Dr. Apaak stated that the placement exercise would be live starting today. He urged parents and guardians to have confidence in the system. “Our students who completed the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), whose results have been released, will be placed through the CSSPS tomorrow (Wednesday),” he explained. “We expect that students will be placed according to the established programming of the system.”
Dr. Apaak assured everyone that, taking into account the challenges faced in previous years, the current team has worked diligently to avoid similar issues this year. He emphasised that the CSSPS team is committed to ensuring that the system operates smoothly without human intervention.
Scramble for Grade ‘A’ schools
The deputy minister said there were limited spaces in Grade ‘A’ schools where there had always been a scramble for places, and advised parents that wherever their children were placed, as long as it was not a female being placed in a male school or vice-versa, they should accept the placements. “We have decided to allow the system to function and work, and we will not seek to interfere by manually manipulating the system. We want to eliminate the biased, sometimes financially induced manipulation of the system,” Dr Apaak said.
He added that the success of students did not depend on the schools they attended, insisting that “it will depend on the commitment of the student to academic work, discipline, the support of the parents, and, of course, the efforts of the school”. “Success is not predicated on attending a Grade ‘A’ school,” Dr Apaak stressed. He acknowledged that there was a disparity in terms of facilities and amenities, but he stressed that “that alone cannot spell doom for a student”.
Resolution Centre
The Deputy Minister announced that the CSSPS team has established a resolution center at the GNAT Hall in Accra to address genuine challenges, particularly in cases where a boy has been placed in an all-girls school or a girl in an all-boys school. Dr. Apaak noted that the center will also handle situations where a student, for example, has selected a technical institute or secondary technical school but has been placed in an all-girls school instead.
He explained that, following the directive of the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, the resolution center will be equipped with adequate security measures to ensure the safety of both staff and members of the public during the resolution process. “We expect to operate a 24-hour resolution center to address issues as quickly as possible,” he added. Dr. Apaak emphasised that by the time students report to school in a month, all outstanding issues will be resolved.
Writer’s Email: severious.dery@graphic.com.gh
Source: Severious Kale-Dery
