More than 218,000 candidates of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) who have qualified for secondary education have been placed in various senior high schools and technical institutes. They were selected out of 392,000 candidates who met the selection criteria. For candidates to qualify for selection, they have to score not more than grade five in the core subjects of English, Mathematics, Social Studies and Science, and not more than grade six in any two other subjects. In an interview in Accra yesterday, the National Coordinator of the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), Mr George Atta-Boateng, told the Daily Graphic that the Ghana Education Service (GES) had completed the placement of 218,853 qualified Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates into senior high schools and technical institutes. “The amazing thing is that we still have more vacancies available.
At the beginning of the exercise, 299,000 vacancies were declared, so we still have rooms for other students,” Mr Atta-Boateng said. A total of 391,079 candidates from 11,778 public and private junior high schools across the country wrote this year’s BECE. According to Mr Atta-Boateng, candidates who met the selection criteria but could not get placed in any of their four choices (schools) because lack of space and competition in the schools would be placed in view of the vacancies available. He also said because there were more vacancies, some of the candidates who were not placed because they had grade seven in English, Mathematics, Science or Social Studies would also be placed. “They are not completely out because there are chances for them to go to school,” Mr Atta-Boateng said. Efficiency of system Mr Atta-Boateng said the secretariat had done error checking, data validation and gender correction to avoid mistakes such as boys being sent to girls schools vice versa. “This year, we did a thorough background check of all the candidates. We checked all the errors, so I don’t expect problems to come up,” he said, adding that the system is “99.999 per cent efficient”. Mr Atta-Boateng said no student would be sent to a school they had not chosen except if they missed out on their four choices and had opted to attend a school with vacancies. Choosing a school outside a candidate’s four choices, he said, was possible if the candidate contacted the district directorate of education where lists of schools with vacancies would be made available to the candidates to make their choices. “So you go to the district directorates and they would show you the schools with vacancies and there you can choose from among them. Your choice is not automatic because your selection will still have to go through the system”. Second placement On the issue of second placement, Mr Atta-Boateng said that would be done, depending on the returns that are received from the senior high schools after the first placement. “Normally, it depends on the vacancies that are going to be made available by the various institutions after the first placement. Maybe a headmaster requested 400 but 350 students reported. In such a case the remainder of the students would have to be added,” he said. How to check school Candidates can check the schools they have been placed in by texting their index numbers and the last two digits of the year in which he/she wrote the examination to 1060 on any mobile network except Tigo.
From October 10, 2013, candidates can begin printing their placement forms from the Internet for admission into the various schools. Advice to parents The CSSPS Coordinator advised parents to be wary of people who promise that they can secure admission for their children in certain schools. He said it was not possible for anyone to influence the system and so they (parents) should desist from giving their moneys “to people who come th them under the pretext of influencing the system”.
The GES is expected to hold a press conference on Wednesday to announce more details on the placements for this year.
Source: Daily Graphic
