The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has directed heads of Senior High Schools (SHS), Senior High Technical Schools (SHTS), and Technical and Vocational Institutes (TVIs) not to admit students outside the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

He has cautioned that any head who admits students manually or outside the approved process will be sanctioned after enrolment validation.

The directive was contained in a circular issued through the Directors-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ghana TVET Service on Sunday, September 7, 2026.

Mr. Iddrisu said the directive was in line with the government's commitment to improving access to secondary education and strengthening the integrity of placement and enrolment into second-cycle schools.

He explained that the directive is critical to achieving the objectives of the World Bank-funded Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs Project (STARR-J), which seeks to expand and improve teaching and learning infrastructure.

According to the Minister, the Ministry has observed significant discrepancies between the number of students placed through the system and the number actually enrolled in previous cycles, particularly in 2025.

He said the practice indicated that some heads admitted students outside the approved placement system, often after under-declaring vacancies.

He added that the practice undermined the integrity of the placement process, created data inconsistencies, distorted enrolment planning, and affected budget projections, with serious implications for the timely disbursement of funds to schools.

The directive stated that under the 2026 placement cycle, the CSSPS has been enhanced with a built-in enrolment component to provide an end-to-end system for placement and enrolment.

"Accordingly, once vacancies are declared, validated, and confirmed on the system, there shall be no further expansion of vacancies. The exact number of students placed through the CSSPS shall constitute the approved enrolment for each school. No school head is permitted to admit any student outside the CSSPS," the directive stated.

It added that "Any head of school found to have admitted students outside the CSSPS, upon confirmation through enrolment data validation, shall be sanctioned in accordance with the applicable regulations and the Code of Ethics."

The Ministry released the 2026 SHS placement on Friday, September 4, for 620,141 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates who sat for the examination from May 4 to May 11, 2026.

This year, candidates saw their BECE results before selecting schools and were required to choose two Category 'A' schools—one boarding and one day school within their district.

Source: 3news