Candidates scramble for space in grade ‘A’ schools;Eight schools attract 138,394 choices

THE Ghana Education Service (GES) has explained that the challenges being experienced with the placement into senior high schools (SHSs), technical and vocational institutions have arisen because candidates are rejecting schools into which they are placed under the Computerised School Selection Placement System (CSSPS).

The Deputy Director-General of the GES in charge of Quality and Access, Dr Kwabena Tandoh, who stated this, said instead of the candidates reporting to the schools they were placed in, large numbers of them are besieging the solution centres to get their choices changed so that they could be re-placed into grade ‘A’ schools.

In an interview, he said the situation had put undue pressure on the management of the GES “because everybody wants to go to Wesley Girls, Achimota, Prempeh College, St Augustine’s, St Roses and Holy Child, among others.”

Sort for schools

Dr Tandoh stated that was evident from the choices made by the candidates, where for instance 138,394 candidates chose to be placed in eight schools with a total vacancies of 7,591 candidates.

He listed the schools as Kumasi Secondary/Technical School, Ghana National, Cape Coast, Aggrey Memorial SHS, Achimota School, Prempeh College, Mfansipim, Holy Child and Wesley Girls.

Dr Tandoh said for instance that “the most sought for schools this year were Kumasi Secondary/Technical School and Ghana National in Cape Coast, where 37,484 and 35,501 candidates, respectively, applied to be placed, when the schools declared only 1,214 and 850 vacancies, respectively.”

He wondered how that was possible, adding that the choice pattern of the candidates was not reflecting the available spaces.

Dr Tandoh said for instance that in Wesley Girls in Cape Coast alone 4,990 candidates applied for placement even though the school could only place 510, while the Prempeh Senior High School received 9,705 candidates and could only place 1,530.

In a similar way, 18,778 candidates applied for placement in Achimota SHS. Meanwhile, the school can only place 1,190.

Dr Tandoh likened the situation to a big bus that could comfortably convey all the passengers, but all of them want to sit in the front seat, which he said was not just plausible.

He said: “This is even with the double-track system, when all these highly sought for schools are running the double track.”

He wondered what would have happened without double track system.

Dr Tandoh said as it stood now, if all the candidates should accept their placements, there would be an excess of 46,570 vacancies awaiting students; “meanwhile, there is scramble for space in some few schools.”

Qualified teachers

He appealed to parents to accept the schools the candidates were placed in and assured them that there were equally good and professional teachers in all the other schools “just like what we have in the grade ‘A’ schools.”

He said that there were many schools doted all over the country “with excellent facilities but no candidate chose them and the only way to get candidates there is to present such schools for self-placement.”