The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has boldly stated that he would not accept a student with an aggregate of 37 going into a Category A school.
According to the Education Minister, the ongoing SHS school placement process will be based solely on merit.
He emphasised that anyone found manipulating the system would be dealt with accordingly.
Haruna Iddrisu made this known while addressing concerns raised by some parents.
The Minister of Education stated, “Let me assure you that placement of persons who pass in the BECE exams is ongoing. The Director General sitting here have no access, I have no access, the Deputy Minister have no access. No Deputy Director General has access in order to guarantee the meritorious application of it”.
He detailed, “But sometimes there are other persons who may want to abuse it, and we’ll deal with them as and when we find culprits. For instance, I would not accept a student with an aggregate of 37 going into a Category A school. What would be your justification for that if you hear that a student with an aggregate of 35 or 37 is placed in a Category A school? Does he belong there meritoriously? That is questionable”.
He further touched on the issue of inadequate infrastructure to accommodate the high number of students entering senior high schools across the country.
Haruna Iddrisu noted, “On this matter of boarding schools, the Director General and myself met with the leadership of CHASS. We asked them to give us a list where necessary. But to all this, it just says that the government needs to invest more to expand infrastructure. If Achimota got two additional dormitory blocks and two additional state-of-the-art classrooms, it would double its intake, just as Wesley Girls, Yaa Asantewaa, Temasco, Adisadel or any other school,” he said.
“But the question is, have we invested in them? We have not; so, don’t expect that all of a sudden, we’ll be able to place people adequately. The number of persons who wrote the exams and passed far more exceeds the opportunities available. But we have done well, at least for the first time, we’ve expanded the limit to private senior high schools. Many of the students would be placed within the context of understanding that Free Compulsory Universal Basic Education (FCUBE) have been extended to secondary education,” he added.
His comments follow Parents and their wards besieging the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Hall in Accra over the 2025 BECE placement.
The parents, accompanied by their children, expressed frustration over the SHS placement.
Some parents expressed frustration over challenges of misplaced placements and difficulties in accessing the schools their wards have been placed in.
One parent stated, “I came here to change the school that the system gave to my son. Since we got here, the queue has been just overwhelming.
“My ward got St Fidelis SHS I don’t even know where that school is located. I wish he attended the school close to us, and particularly, we want a day school.
“With the pace at which the queue is moving, I doubt they will be able to attend to us today. Even if they stick to the one-week timeline they gave, I doubt they can attend to all of us,” he said.
Some parents also alleged that the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) made errors that wrongly disadvantaged their wards.
Meanwhile, Kofi Asare, the Director of Africa Education Watch, has said there are enough SHS spaces, but parents want popular schools.
He called on parents to manage their expectations regarding the ongoing 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) placement process.
Speaking on the Citi Breakfast Show on Tuesday, September 23, Kofi Asare explained, “The resolution starts with parents, because we have more spaces in schools than we actually need. Which means that we have the capacity to absorb all the 590,000 students that want to be placed this year.
“But the issue is that while the country has spaces in our secondary schools, the spaces do not meet the full expectations, tastes and choices of parents and, by extension, the candidates,” he said.
He added, “One of the challenges is the over-democratisation of school placement, where you are told that you have the right to choose. But that is not absolute. It is relative within a merit-based system. You may wish to go to Labone SHS to do science, but you must also know that the school is a competitive Category B school.
“So, your chance of going there is not a matter of choosing but also making a competitive grade with respect to the course you are choosing, whether you want to be a day student or not. These two things determine the extent of competition,” he explained.
Kofi Asare further highlighted that equitable access to education requires parents to embrace all schools across categories.
“So, parents should understand that it is not possible for any government to serve them with the choice of their school for their wards. The only way we can ensure equitable access to second-cycle school is to ensure that all schools, regardless of their categories, are patronised by parents,” he added.
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