The Ghana Education Service (GES) says that about 95% of students seeking admission to senior high schools have already been placed, pushing back against growing concerns about this year’s Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
Head of Public Relations at the GES, Daniel Fenyi, said the current figures do not support claims of a nationwide placement crisis.
Speaking on Joy News’ PM Express on Monday, Mr Fenyi said this year has recorded a significant improvement in automatic placements.
He said 527,000 students have so far been automatically placed, compared with 483,000 in 2025 and 447,000 in 2024.
“So if you ask me what changed, what changed is a significant improvement in the automatic placements that were done this year.”
The improvement, he said, is also reflected in the sharp decline in the number of students relying on self-placement.
According to him, self-placement figures have fallen from 107,000 last year to 53,000 as of September 10, although registration is still ongoing.
He said automatic placements accounted for about 87%, while the remaining 13% were self-placed.
“Then we are talking of the number or percentage of placed students hitting about 93 to 95% of the students placed, as we speak.”
The comments come amid reports of frustrations among parents and guardians over school placements, particularly at some resolution centres in Accra and the Ashanti Region.
Mr Fenyi, however, said the concerns should not be interpreted as evidence of a national crisis.
“I want to emphasise that if you have a system that has been able to place about 95% of the students through automatic and self-placement put together, you cannot, by any stretch of imagination, call such a 95% efficiency a crisis. It cannot happen.”
He also rejected concerns that the challenge was being caused by a shortage of spaces.
“In terms of spaces, we have well about 800,000 spaces for 600,000, a little over 600,000 students who want to pursue senior high education.”
He said the CSSPS has 17 resolution centres nationwide to deal with technical challenges, human error and individual placement concerns.
According to Mr Fenyi, 15 of the 17 centres are operating smoothly, with Accra and the Ashanti Region recording the most visible pressure.
“Accra is not Ghana,” he said, arguing that large numbers of parents at the Accra centre should not be used to characterise the situation nationwide.
He said the GES is continuing to resolve outstanding cases through the designated centres.
“So let me assuage the fears of stakeholders who might be following these placement issues critically. That if you have 17 places that are addressing issues, and 15 of them are running efficiently, you cannot say that the resolution centres or the placement itself has issues.”
