Senior lecturer calls for public sensitisation on new school placement process

Following the announcement of the new school section process and time of selection, many have called for public sensitization on the new school placement process. The latest to add his voice of the call is Dr. Daniel Osabutey

The Senior Lecturer at the Accra Technical University Business School has urged the government to launch clear and accessible public education campaigns to help students and parents understand how the new placement system will operate.

Dr Osabutey stressed that candidates must be equipped to make informed school choices within the limited time available. The new school placement process announced will go a long way to deal with the current challenges faced by the computerized school placement system. However, education on the new system is needed.

He was reacting to Mr. Haruna Iddrisu, the minister for Education’s announcement of a significant change to Ghana’s school placement process, which would require candidates of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to now confirm their selected preferred senior high schools after their results were released.

Dr. Osabutey told the Ghana News Agency in an interview that guidance and counselling would be critical under the new system and called on the Ghana Education Service to ensure that counsellors and teachers were readily available immediately after the release of results to help students interpret their results and make realistic choices about their preferred schools.

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He also emphasized the need to strengthen the digital infrastructure that supports the placement process, as students were expected to make their selections within one week, adding, however, that the one-week window for school selection might place significant pressure on students, particularly those in rural areas where access to reliable internet services, information, and guidance might be limited.

He warned that the new system could lead to increased competition for top-performing schools, stating that “there is also the risk that popular schools could become even more oversubscribed; when students know their exact grades, many high-performing candidates may target the same top schools.” Without careful management, this could intensify competition and still leave many qualified students disappointed.”

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Dr. Osabutey described the proposal as timely and practical because for years, students selected schools without knowing their final examination results, often leading to unrealistic choices, with some candidates applying to highly competitive schools they could not qualify for, while others underestimated their performance and aimed too low.

He explained that allowing students to access their results before making selections introduced a greater level of fairness into the system, and students could now align their choices with their academic performance, which might reduce placement disputes and dissatisfaction.

The call for public sensitization on the new school placement process is the right call. It is hoped that the Ministry of Education and all allied public institutions will work hand in hand to release modalities that the new school selection process will take.

Sourced from: GNA – Tema, April 8; edited and updated by Ghanaeducation.org Editorial Team.