Former CSSPS coordinator calls for televised placement to curb fraud

A former coordinator for the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), Dr. George Atta Boateng, has called for a televised placement system to curb fraud associated with school placement.

This call comes after an investigative documentary “School Placement for Sale” by The Fourth Estate captured parents, guardians, and officials in charge of school placement, making deals to put wards in desired institutions.

The Fourth Estate established that The Minister of Education and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES) were the only ones given access and passwords to approve protocol placement into Category A senior high schools.

The Fourth Estate found evidence that placement into Category ‘A’ schools happened through a network of intermediaries that included cleaners and security guards.

The Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), was introduced by GES to place qualified BECE graduates into second cycle institutions in Ghana.

Speaking to the issue on Atinka FM’s AM Drive with host Kaakyire Ofori Ayim, the former coordinator for the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), Dr. George Atta Boateng suggested that the placement should be broadcast live on national TV and results sent instantly to competing BECE candidates through SMS.

This, he said, will restore the public confidence and ensure that students get placed in their preferred SHS on merit.

Dr. George Atta Boateng argued that the interval between the time the placement is done and when the results are released to these candidates is the cause of the anomalies in the system.

He also mentioned that all heads of Senior High Schools should be made to publish, program by program, all available vacancies before the televised placement for the purposes of transparency.

“The MOE/GES should revert to the 30% catchment Area Allocation Policy, which gave opportunities to BECE candidates emanating from public schools within a 10 mile/16 km radius of the so-called Category “A” schools. The current wholesale Policy, as introduced by the MOE/GES since 2018, is the bastion of all the corruption related activities. It virtually eliminates the possibility of accountability,” Dr. George Atta Boateng told Kaakyire Ofori Ayim.