MoE rejects calls to abolish CSSPS amid 2025 SHS placement issues

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has rejected calls for the abolition of the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) amid challenges in the ongoing second-cycle school placement.

Speaking in an interview monitored by Pretertiary.com, the Media Relations Officer of the Education Ministry, Hashmin Mohammed, stated that the issue had nothing to do with the computer school placement system, but rather with inadequate infrastructure in various second-cycle schools across the country.

“The CSSPS system is evolving, and once it evolves, I would believe that policy makers at the highest authority will be assessing, and if there’s a need for that [cancellation], I think policy makers will look into that. But for now, this is the system we have. And we must all work together to make the system work effectively. I do not see any issue with the system,” the MoE spokesperson said in the interview.

He emphasised the need for greater investment in infrastructure to make all Senior High Schools (SHSs) attractive, thereby reducing the overwhelming pressure on category A and B schools during the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) placement process.

“Maybe going forward, what we can do as a country is to improve infrastructure across the board and make all our schools very competitive. And that is the step this government has taken into consideration by proposing in next year’s budget [2027] to invest heavily in ending the double track system.

When that is done, then we can have a lot of spaces even in Category A and B schools, and it will not affect the quality of education. Any policy should not affect the quality of education, and that is the priority of the government,” he told Sammi Wiafe on Accra-based Citi FM’s Eyewitness News.

In other news, Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) has described this year’s ongoing second-cycle school placement of 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) students as the largest and most challenging placement year.

EduWatch said its 2025 preliminary secondary school placement cycle data reflects both continued growth in candidate numbers and signs of capacity pressure in Ghana’s placement system.

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.