Years after government introduced the computerised school selection and placement system (CSSPS) for students entering the senior high school, the nation is still struggling to resolve the recurring crisis associated with it.

The system was introduced in 2005 to reduce the hassle parents and students went through when seeking admission, ironically, parents are getting more and more frustrated with how this new system works.

Even though the system has largely been able to curtail corruption in school admission, parents say the schools offered their wards are not commensurate to their grades.

Some parents whose children excelled in the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) but were denied their first choice schools suspect some officials are manipulating the system.

Disgruntled parents who spoke to Luv FM’s Saeed Yaqub after accessing placement of their wards via SMS described the system as unfair.

A man whose daughter could not get Wesley Girls High School despite getting ten ones – thus one in all the subjects she wrote – shared his bitter experience.

“For the past years, if one gets 1,1,1 for ten subjects, at least for your first choice, you are assured of it, unfortunately, we got wind of the result that it would be accessed on our mobile phones and we accessed and the result was that her second choice, which was Mfantsiman has been given to her and ever since the girl has continuously wept…”

The Minister of Education, Alex Tetteh-Enyo had days before the release of the placement assured parents that the 200,642 out of 395,647 candidates who qualified for admission into second-cycle schools would be placed under CSSPS according to the order of merit in vacancies in schools of their choice.

He said his ministry would not allow “protocol admissions” for placement in this year’s placement.

However some heads of basic school have expressed similar sentiment by parents but would not comment until they get the official list of placement.

Tags: Education