Education policy analyst Divine Kpe has called on Ghana’s Ministry of Education to urgently review and improve the algorithm of the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS). In his view, this would help reduce the annual problems during the placement of students in educational institutions.
As MyJoyOnline reports, Kpe drew attention to long queues and complaints recorded in different parts of the country, including Accra and Kumasi. He noted that appeals from students and parents concern not only the inability to gain admission to their chosen schools.
Placement complaints
According to the analyst, some students are assigned to institutions they did not choose. Others are given a residential status that differs from their choice or are sent to schools located far from their communities.
Kpe believes that improving the accuracy of student placement should be the top priority. In his view, fixing such problems could significantly reduce the number of schoolchildren who have to visit placement centers every year to resolve issues regarding their enrollment.
The analyst also questioned why the difficulties recur even though Ghana has used a computerized system for several years. He proposed that the Ministry of Education conduct a comprehensive audit of the CSSPS to identify the causes of recurring errors.
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Kpe stressed that a student’s automatic placement does not always mean they have been correctly assigned to a school. According to him, the share of students placed automatically by the system has increased over the years, but this does not guarantee the accuracy of such placement.
Demand for Category A schools
Kpe named high demand for Category A schools as a separate factor putting pressure on the system. According to the data he cited, more than 300,000 students selected such institutions, while approximately 76,000 places were available.
He proposed using data from this year’s placement process to determine whether all applicants met the requirements of their chosen schools. In Kpe’s view, the system could check a student’s grades and prevent them from continuing with the selection of an institution if the results do not meet the criteria of a particular school.
The analyst believes that the results of such a review should form the basis for further changes to the CSSPS. He does not expect the placement procedure to become completely free of problems, but is convinced that improving its accuracy could reduce the scale of annual difficulties for students and parents.
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