Let’s make the computerised placement system work

This time every year is a nightmarish experience for parents who seek admission for their children. Students also go through the same pain.

This is so because of the lack of access to secondary education, which has not been made any easier by the introduction of the Computerised School Selection Placement Systems (CSSPS).

Although the government’s efforts to increase access are commendable, there are other factors that must be considered.

In addition to the lack of infrastructure, there is also the shortage of human resource and the question of what to do with students who do not make the required grades, as well as those who do not gain admission to any of the senior high schools (SHSs) and technical institutions (TIs).

As indicated by the acting Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Mr Charles Aheto-Tsegah, at a press conference yesterday, 272,330 placements have already been made through the CSSPS.

There is, however, an outstanding number of 149,890 candidates waiting for placements in the second round, to make up the total of 422,220 candidates who sat for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).

Though only 421,270 candidates qualified after the examinations and so are eligible for placement, there would still be a shortfall.

Mr Aheto-Tsegah announced that only 408,152 vacancies were declared by SHSs and TIs, which suggests that the fate of 950 eligible candidates already hangs in the balance.

That is why the Daily Graphic lauds the foresight of the acting director-general with regard to a solution to the seeming problem.

He said, for instance, after the second placement, those who would still not secure placement would have the opportunity of selecting a school of their choice from among a list of schools for placement, and that the GES would not do the selection for any student.

That, to us, should be good news for all parents who are apprehensive that their children may not get any school after the exercise is over.

We believe that all students would like to be placed in schools of their choice. However, in view of the limited vacancies in the schools that are always the preferred choice of many students, other choices would have to be made.

That is why students have always been asked to make more than one choice when they fill the forms for SHSs/TIs when they complete JHS.

We agree that some choices may not be pleasant but life is full of choices – some pleasant, others necessary and the rest unpleasant.

We add our voice to that of Mr Aheto-Tsegah and ask all parents to give the CSSPS officials the peace of mind they need to carry out their duties.

If the CSSPS would work, parents must have faith in its operation. One way of doing that is to give the workers the free hand to operate.

We urge both officials and parents to make the system work by not permitting any form of inducement that would only jeopardise our wobbling educational system.