All BECE candidates will get SHS placement - Education Minister assures

The Minister of Education Dr Mathew Opoku Prempeh has announced that 36,849 out of a total of 460,941 candidates who sat for the 2017 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) who passed and qualified will be placed into senior high schools.

He said qualified candidates who were not posted have been given the second chance to report for the necessary corrections to be made.

READ MORE: SHS postings out

The Ghana Education Service has said at least 36,849 JHS students who sat for this year’s BECE will not make it to senior high schools.

The Service has explained the students who represent 8 percent of the total number of students who took the exam scored Grade 9 in either English Language or Mathematics.

A statement by the education regulator Friday said out of the total 460,941 registered candidates, 424,092 students qualified to be placed in the various secondary schools across the country.

During the Computerised School Selection System Placement, 267,327 candidates secured places in schools of their choice, while 150,770 candidates could not be placed in a school of their choice. The GES has given the candidates a second chance of choosing a school.

The qualified candidates who did not get a place of their choice have been advised to go online [www.myjhsresults.net] and select an option available within 48 hours.

The 2017/18 academic year for all SHS students will commence on 11th September, and first year students have been advised to report on that day.

The Education Minister speaking on the Computerised School Selection System Placement said "Some students don’t get the courses they choose and they have to choose a different course so that is a normal thing. What we used to hear every year was that those who didn’t get their choices were placed by the CSSPS in certain schools and there was uproar around the country from students who claim they didn’t choose those schools and they were being put there, from parents who were not in favour of the schools their wards have been placed, and also frankly some people live in another part of the country and they were being put in day schools in another part of the country. So what we’ve done this year after placing all those who got a choice of their own is that those who didn’t get any of these schools that they wanted to go to, are being given a second chance to go and visit the website and choose from a school that the vacancy exists.

"The second batch that is left, obviously most of our big schools are full now but there are three options with the Ghana Education Service category and there are still existing vacancies in many schools so you pick and choose a school that there is a vacancy and we’ll place you there."