No free SHS for BECE candidates who refuse school placement

Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates who do not accept the senior high schools (SHSs) they have been placed in during the computer placement exercise will not benefit from the free SHS programme, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has stated.

The Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Rev. Jonathan Bettey, who confirmed this in an interview with the Junior Graphic, noted that the government had made provision for candidates who would be placed in the schools of choice, and so once a candidate refused to accept the school he/she had been placed in, the person would automatically lose the provision that had been made for him or her to enjoy fee free SHS.

“For instance, if the placement centre sends you to Kpando SHS and you decide not to go there despite provisions having been made for you in that school but you decide to go to another school, there is nothing for you,” he said, adding that “wherever the placement centre puts you based on the choices you made is where you would be.”

He said mechanisms had been put in place to ensure that this time it would be difficult for people to change their schools after placement had been done.

Rev. Bettey said once the list of students placed in SHSs was sent to the various schools that was what the schools would work with.

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He, therefore, advised candidates to accept the schools they would be placed in if they want to benefit from the free SHS policy since no one would be placed in a school he/she did not choose.

The GES PRO reminded candidates that they would be placed in the schools of their choice based on their performance.

“We plead with parents and guardians to help us to achieve our objective of ensuring a smooth implementation of the free SHS policy. The placement process would be successful if they all come on board to support the decision of the GES placement secretariat.”

The free SHS programme scheduled to start from September this year was launched by the Minister of Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh on Thursday, July 27 this year.