BECE candidates to re-select SHS - GES

Accra, March 27, GNA - The Ghana Education Service (GES) on Friday announced that, candidates for the 2008/2009 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) would re-select their choices of senior high schools and programmes.

The re-selection exercise will take place from April 3 to 8. "This is to allow candidates and parents to think through the choices they want to make as well as improve on the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) to ensure that every candidate gets placed in a school," it said.

Mr Samuel Bannerman-Mensah, Director-General of the GES, who announced this at a press conference in Accra to address emerging issues on the CSSPS, said the new approach was recommended by a committee of education stakeholders in December last year to solve the increasing number of qualified candidates who failed to get placed yearly.

Mr Bannerman-Mensah said in pursuance of the recommendations, all post-basic education institutions, based on their facilities and locations, had been categorized into six to ensure that all candidates made a choice from each of the categories to enhance their chances of being placed. He said going by the recommendations, BECE registration exercise would now be done between September and October whilst schools and programmes selection exercise took place in February. He said the GES collaborated with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) to develop a software which contained guidelines to support the new arrangement.

Mr Bannerman-Mensah said the GES had also provided copies of the register of categorized schools to all junior high schools to serve as reference points for smooth implementation. He said to ensure equity and fairness, the GES directed that all endowed schools reserved 30 per cent of space for placement to students from public schools considered to be not too endowed. The Director-General also announced an elaborate programme to be embarked upon next month to sensitize education directors and the general public on the implementation of the new registration and selection arrangements. He called on parents, guardians and the general public to co-operate with the GES to ensure that the new arrangements succeeded.