Achimota, Aburi Girls’ receive 36,000 applications for just 2,100 places
Achimota School and Aburi Girls’ Senior High School received more than 36,000 applications for approximately 2,100 places, leaving about 34,000 candidates to be considered for other schools.
More than 36,000 candidates selected Achimota School or Aburi Girls’ Senior High School as their preferred choice in the 2026 placement exercise, although the two schools have only about 2,100 places between them.
The figures mean roughly 34,000 applicants cannot be admitted to either school and will have to compete for placement elsewhere when the Computerised School Selection and Placement System results are released on Friday, September 4, 2026.
CSSPS Coordinator Sherif Sulemana disclosed the figures during an interview on Joy FM on Wednesday morning.
Achimota School received about 28,000 applications for approximately 1,300 vacancies, meaning the school has more than 21 applicants competing for every available place.
Aburi Girls’ received 8,225 applications for about 800 places, more than 10 candidates for each vacancy.
The competition remains intense even among candidates with some of the strongest BECE aggregates.
Mr Sulemana said approximately 14,800 Achimota applicants recorded aggregates between six and 12, but the school has only about 1,300 places.
At Aburi Girls’, about 3,000 of the 8,225 applicants obtained aggregates between six and 12 and are competing for a share of the school’s 800 vacancies.
Together, the two schools received applications from about 17,800 candidates with aggregates between six and 12, more than eight times their combined capacity.
“Those are the realities within which we operate, and we want the general public to understand,” Mr Sulemana said.
Aggregate alone does not decide placement
Mr Sulemana cautioned candidates and parents against assuming that a strong aggregate automatically guarantees admission to a preferred school.
He said candidates are initially ranked nationally from the strongest aggregate to the weakest. The placement system then considers their chosen programme, residential preference and the number of places available at the selected school.
Where candidates seeking the same school, programme and residential status obtain an identical aggregate, their raw examination scores are used to break the tie, he explained.
This means two candidates with the same aggregate may not receive the same placement outcome because their underlying subject scores could be different.
The source material also states that a candidate with a weaker aggregate could be placed ahead of one with a stronger aggregate based on raw scores.
However, that claim appears inconsistent with the separate explanation that raw scores are used only when candidates have the same aggregate, and requires clarification from the CSSPS Secretariat.
Mr Sulemana said the authorities might have to reconsider the practice of withholding candidates’ raw scores and using them only internally to resolve ties.
The Press Secretary and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Hashmin Mohammed, also said heads of senior high schools had a discretionary quota amounting to about 5% of their declared vacancies.
Candidates who do not secure places at the two oversubscribed schools will have to consider the alternative placements offered when the 2026 CSSPS results are released.
Read Also: 50,000 BECE candidates shut out of SHS placement over English or Maths