Massing at Black Star Square won't give you another school – GES

The Ghana Education Service (GES) has directed parents and their wards to resolve issues with their Senior High School (SHS) placements at home instead of massing at the Black Star Square in Accra.

According to the GES, their issues cannot be resolved at the Solution Centre located at the Black Star Square.

Thousands of distraught parents and their wards have since Friday besieged the Black Star Square to have issues with their placements resolved as some have complained of being placed in schools they did not choose.

Some students who had massed up at the Square on Monday passed out after standing for hours under sweltering conditions and were rushed to the Greater Accra Regional Hospital.

Speaking in an interview on Accra-based Joy FM, the Deputy Director-General in charge of Quality and Access at the GES, Dr Kwabena Tandoh, said students who were not placed in a school of their choice should go back home and select a school under the self-placement module.

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He said, “...It's not the Independence Square (Black Star Square) per se that will give you another school. You have a problem, you went to check online and that’s how you knew that you didn’t have a school. Right on that same screen said that do self-placement and put yourself in school, so why pick up yourself and travel through the night and go to the Independence Square.

"...Rather than get in a car and drive to independence square and walk to independence square, we are just asking for the people who didn’t have school that the same thing they see online is the same thing that that person at the independence square will see (sic),” he stressed.

How GES is resolving the challenges

According to Dr Tandoh, every challenge with the Computerised School Selection Placement System (CSSPS) would eventually be resolved.

He, therefore, asked parents to keep calm as the service was committed to addressing their problems within 24 to 48 hours.

Dr Tandoh explained that the challenges would be addressed at either the Independence Square or by a call centre set up specifically to address the issues.

“If you are at the Independence Square, we will ask that orderly you go and let them know what your challenge is and how it will be addressed. You leave a contact and then we will work on your challenge and we will see how we will address it and then get back to you within the next 24 to 48 hours.”

He advised parents and their wards who chose 'boarding schools' but were placed in 'day schools' to lodge complaints using the channels provided. "But we also want them to understand that not everybody can go to boarding school and not everybody chose to go to boarding school,” Dr Tandoh stated.