The Ministry of Education has discredited supposed placement slips circulating on social media, falsely claiming that it has changed its original placement results.
It described such claims as attempts by some unscrupulous individuals to manipulate and digitally alter the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
The ministry insists that those claims are false and misleading.
“Following preliminary internal verification, the ministry has established that some of the placement slips being circulated do not correspond with records generated from the official CSSPS platform.
“In particular, the barcodes and QR codes on the purported placement slips do not match the placement information presented on the documents being circulated as evidence of alleged changes,” a statement signed by the Press Secretary to the Minister of Education, Hashmin Mohammed, said.
It said the ministry’s system and audit logs did not support the claims being made by the individuals circulating those materials.
“The evidence available to the ministry indicates that the affected documents have been digitally manipulated or otherwise altered to create the impression that students’ placements have been changed.
“The ministry considers these actions a serious attempt to undermine public confidence in the CSSPS process and create unnecessary confusion and anxiety among students, parents, and guardians,” it emphasised.
Further investigation
In view of the development, it said the ministry had consequently referred the matter to the Cyber Security Authority and other relevant security agencies for further investigation and appropriate action.
The ministry, therefore, urged the public to exercise caution and refrain from sharing unverified placement slips or claims on social media.
“Parents, guardians, and students are advised to rely only on placement information obtained through the official CSSPS channels.
“The Ministry remains committed to ensuring that the 2026 CSSPS exercise is conducted with transparency, fairness, integrity and accountability,” it said.
It assured the public that any legitimate concerns regarding placement would be duly investigated through the appropriate channels.
Placement
A total of 313,283 candidates selected Category ‘A’ schools as their first choice, compared with 176,614 for Category ‘B’ schools, 123,577 for Category ‘C’ schools, and 995 for private senior high schools (SHSs) and senior high technical schools (SHTSs).
More than half of the candidates’ first-choice demand was concentrated on the highly subscribed Category ‘A’ schools.
The vacancy data indicated that the system had 859,828 declared vacancies, including 76,417 vacancies in Category A schools, 250,366 in Category ‘B’ schools, and 468,652 in Category ‘C’ schools.
While 313,283 candidates expressed preference for Category ‘A’ schools, the declared vacancies in those schools stood at 76,417.
Number of candidates
A total of 623,072 candidates sat the 2026 BECE, compared with 603,328 candidates last year.
That represented an increase of 19,744 candidates and demonstrated the continued expansion of participation in basic education and the growing demand for secondary education.
However, a total of 604,567 candidates qualified for placement into SHSs, SHTSs, and technical and vocational institutions across the country.
Of this number, 527,932 candidates have been successfully placed, representing approximately 87.3 per cent of qualified candidates.
The successful students comprise 276,521 females and 251,411 males.
Self-placement
Meanwhile, a self-placement portal has since been activated to provide an important pathway for candidates who could not be automatically matched with their original choices, as well as candidates with a score of 9 in English Language and/or Mathematics to select from the available schools.
This year, the CSSPS has been upgraded to include an admission portal to enable parents and guardians to enrol their wards and download admission forms without travelling to the schools.
This will ease the burden on parents, guardians, and students who hitherto would have travelled to their selected schools for admission and enrolment.
