95% of cases at CSSPS placement centers are school change – MoE

About 95% of parents who visit the various school placement centres are seeking transfers from one Category of school to another, the Deputy National Coordinator for the Free SHS Secretariat, Dr. Belinda Glover, has disclosed.

“The major issue is those who are coming here with the grades that can not take them to the school that they want to go to. But remember, it’s a system, it’s an algorithm that places you where your grade can take you

It’s not about I have not been placed, it’s not about I can not get a school, but it’s a change of school, so it means the person has already been assigned a school but doesn’t like it,” the Free SHS coordinator said.

In a discussion with a journalist monitored by Pretertiary.com, the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) coordinator said the trend is creating unnecessary pressure at the various school placement centers.

She has therefore cautioned parents against crowding school placement resolution centres to demand changes of schools for their wards who sat for the just-ended Basic Education Certificate Examination.

Dr. Belinda Glover urged parents to accept their wards’ second-cycle school placements so that the District, Regional, and National school resolution centres can focus on addressing genuine and peculiar concerns.

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Education says the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) resolution Centre, which commenced operations on Friday, September 18, 2025, is actively resolving placement-related concerns for candidates nationwide.

In a statement sighted by Pretertiary.com, the Ministry said, “to date, over 564,000 out of 590,390 qualified candidates have been successfully placed in Senior High Schools and Technical Institutes.”

The Ministry of Education (MoE) indicated that since opening, the school placement resolution centers have received a total of 1,358 cases, the majority of which relate to school and residence changes.

It indicated that the change of school cases is 1,100, saying that 76% of requests involve movements from Category C and B schools to Category A schools ,14% from B to B, and 10% from C to C schools.

“While the Ministry of Education appreciates the strong interest of parents and guardians in Category A schools, placement is determined by raw scores, available vacancies, and competition levels

As such, even high-performing candidates may not always secure their first-choice schools if competition and vacancy levels are high. Genuine concerns brought to the Centre are being reviewed and addressed accordingly,” it noted.

While the school placement policy does not permit a change of candidates’ residence, the Education Ministry said special concessions are considered in health challenges or family relocation cases.

“Qualified students not placed through the automatic system are encouraged to use the self-placement option. So far, about 70% of such candidates have been successfully placed through this process,” it said.

A total of 590,309 BECE candidates this year qualified for second-cycle school (SHS/TVET) placement. Out of this, 483,800 were placed automatically, while 107,000 secured schools through self-placement.

According to the Ministry of Education, of the 483,800 BECE graduates who secured automatic second-cycle school placement, 234,783, representing 48.6% were boys, and 248,038, representing 51.4% were girls.

It indicated that 82 per cent (82%) of qualified students who sat for the 2025 edition of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) have been placed in their first-choice second-cycle schools.

This year, a total of 603,328 candidates, comprising 297,250 males and 306,078 females, from nineteen thousand, five hundred and five (19,505) Junior High Schools (JHSs) entered for the school examination.

This includes seventy-two (72 ) candidates with visual impairment, two hundred and thirty-nine (239) with hearing impairment, and one hundred and sixty-one (161) candidates with other test accommodation needs.

The examination was conducted at two thousand, two hundred and thirty-seven (2,237 ) centres across the country. Out of the total number, two thousand, five hundred and twenty-six (2,526) candidates were absent.

The BECE for Private Candidates recorded a total entry figure of one thousand, three hundred and ninety (1,661) candidates. This was made up of eight hundred and fifty-eight (858) males and eight hundred and three (803 ) females.

Fifteen (15) centres, mostly in the regional capitals, were used for the BECE for Private Candidates. Out of the total number of candidates who entered for the examination, fifty-seven (57) were absent.