SHS heads face sanctions for admitting students outside CSSPS

Heads of public second-cycle institutions in Ghana face sanctions if they admit students outside the Computerised School Selection and Placement System, Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has directed.

The order applies to senior high schools, senior high technical schools and technical and vocational institutes under the Ghana Education Service and Ghana TVET Service.

It comes after the release of the 2026 school placement results prompted complaints from some parents about students being assigned to day schools far from their homes or failing to secure their preferred choices.

“Any head of school found to have admitted students outside the CSSPS, upon confirmation through enrolment data validation, shall be sanctioned in accordance with the applicable regulations and the Code of Ethics,” the directive said.

The Ministry of Education said discrepancies identified during previous placement exercises, particularly last year, suggested that some school heads had admitted students manually after declaring fewer vacancies through the CSSPS.

“The Ministry has observed that in previous placement cycles, particularly last year, there were significant discrepancies between the number of students placed through the system and the number of students actually enrolled on the ground,” it said.

“This indicates that some school heads admitted students outside the approved placement system.”

The ministry did not disclose how many schools or students were involved in the discrepancies. It also did not state whether any school heads had previously been sanctioned over the practice.

No increase after vacancies are approved

Under changes introduced for the 2026 placement exercise, the CSSPS now includes an enrolment component intended to track students from placement through to admission.

The ministry said a school’s declared vacancies would not be increased after they had been validated and approved.

“The exact number of students placed through the CSSPS shall constitute the approved enrolment for each school,” the directive said.

“No school head is permitted to admit any student outside the CSSPS.”

According to the ministry, under-declaring vacancies and subsequently admitting students manually undermines the placement system, creates inconsistencies in enrolment data and disrupts planning.

It said inaccurate enrolment figures also affected budget projections and created difficulties in the timely and accurate release of funds to schools.

Strict adherence to approved enrolment limits is also part of the World Bank-funded Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs project, known as STARR-J. The programme is intended to expand access and improve teaching and learning infrastructure.

Parents raise placement concerns

The 2026 placements for qualified Basic Education Certificate Examination graduates were released on Friday night, drawing mixed reactions from parents.

Some complained that their children had been placed as day students in schools far from where they lived.

Ama Essaba said her daughter had been placed at Archbishop Porter Girls’ Senior High School as a day student despite living in Accra.

“They would have to rectify this anomaly,” she said, questioning how her daughter could commute daily between Accra and Takoradi.

Another parent, Kobina Badu, said his daughter, who obtained aggregate 15, had wanted to study Science as a boarding student at Odorgonnor Senior High School. She was instead placed at La Presbyterian Senior High School as a day student one of the schools he acknowledged selecting.

Other parents welcomed the exercise after their children received their preferred placements.

The Ghana Education Service has previously established resolution centres to address placement complaints, with similar centres expected to be opened for this year’s exercise.

Mr Iddrisu is expected to provide further information about the placement exercise and the options available to affected students at a press conference on Monday.

A total of 620,141 candidates from 20,395 schools sat the 2026 BECE, comprising 304,349 boys and 315,792 girls.