SHS placements begin
The first batch of 437,958 candidates of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) has been placed in their schools of choice under the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
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The figure represents 95 percent of the 456,398 candidates received by the CSSPS from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
Shortcode
Candidates can check for their placements from 10 a.m. today, September 29, 2016 by texting their 10-digit index numbers plus the year they wrote the examination to short code 1060.
For instance, if a candidate wrote the examination this year, then that candidate will have to text his or her index number plus 16 to short code 1060 on all mobile networks, except Kasapa and Glo.
Percentage placed
Briefing journalists at the headquarters of the Ghana Education Service (GES) in Accra yesterday, the Director-General of the GES, Mr Jacob A. M. Kor, said the 456,398 candidates from WAEC represented 99 percent of the total number of candidates who wrote the examination.
He said aside from the vacancies declared by 860 public and private senior high/technical and vocational institutes, 42 of the community day senior high schools would also be ready by the time the candidates would be reporting to school.
Roadmap for freshers
Mr Kor announced that all first-year students would be required to report to school on October 7, 2016, while registration and orientation would be held on October 7 and 9, 2016.
He further announced that classes for freshers would start on October 10, and added that “admission of first-year students ends on October 31, 2016.
“All heads of SHSs, including the 42 community day SHSs, are to take note of this schedule and comply,” Mr Kor directed.
Special directives
He directed all heads of schools to ensure that no student on their schools’ placement lists was denied admission, stating that the Director in charge of the Secondary Education Division and the CSSPS Secretariat should collaborate to resolve any challenges that might arise in the process of admitting students.
“No head of school should charge unauthorised fees; anyone who does so will lose his or her position as a head.
“The management of GES urges all heads of schools to comply with these directives and would wish to assure all parents and students that every qualified candidate will be placed by the end of the exercise,” he added.
No protocol
“The general public is informed that the ministry/GES does not encourage and will not encourage protocol admission,” he said.
Mr Kor gave an assurance that in accordance with CSSPS guidelines, students who did not get their first choice schools would be placed in their second and third choices.
Analysis of 2016 placement data
He said analysis of the 2016 BECE results released by WAEC indicated that there was exceptional performance in the total scores of some of the candidates for this year.
“With a total score of 600 being the maximum raw score in six subjects (i.e. four core subjects plus two best subjects), 3,994 candidates got over 500, which has never happened in the history of BECE,” Mr Kor revealed.
He therefore commended the candidates and all teachers for their hard work which had brought about the drastic improvement in students’ performance at the 2016 BECE.
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