SPEECH DELIVERED BY THE AG. DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE GHANA EDUCATION SERVICE AT A MEDIA BRIEFING ON ARRANGEMENTS MADE TOWARDS THE
2011 COMPUTERISED SCHOOL SELECTION & PLACEMENT SYSTEM

MONDAY, 5TH SEPTEMBER 2011

I welcome. you all to this Media Briefing to update you members of the press and through you, the general public on guidelines made towards this year’s computerized school selection exercise.

This has become necessary because HE the President of the Republic of Ghana, Prof J. E. A. Mills directed the Ghana Education Service to consider the 30% Catchment Area Allocation  during this year’s placement exercise, when he delivered his State of the Nation Address to Parliament earlier this year.

As you may be aware, the CSSPS which replaced the Manual System of Selection and Placement into our Second Cycle Schools is now in its Seventh (7th) year of operation, and it takes into consideration three (3) categories of candidates namely:

  1. Existing year's qualified candidates
  2. Re-entry candidates (those who sat for the BECE in the last three (3) years i.e. 2008, 2009 and 2010)
  3. Foreign Candidates

The placement exercise is conducted based on software which has been specially developed for the programme.
Some of the new features in the placement exercise are:

  1. Re-organization of the SMS texting involving all mobile phone networks.
  2. The use of scratch cards which was introduced for the first time last year, to eliminate the delay candidates’ encounter in processing placement forms, which has been improved.

The general public would be adequately informed on this issue when the results are finally released by 7th October 2011, by which time placement report for both 70% and 30% would have been out.

As you are already aware, the placement of BECE qualified candidates into Senior High Schools and Technical Institutions is a process which starts with the release of the BECE results by West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC). This was done some weeks ago, and so we appreciate the fact that Parents, Candidates and the Public at large, are anxious to know the schools into which candidates have been placed, based, as said, on their choices. I am therefore happy to announce the following guidelines.

GUIDELINES FOR THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE 2011 PLACEMENT EXERCISE
The following are the guidelines to help parents, candidates and the general public understand the implementation of the 30% and 70% placement and also other developments:

  1. 2011 BECE candidates who obtained up to aggregate 30 and wish to attend school in the Catchment Area are to list the names of all Senior High Schools/Technical Vocational Institutes in their catchment areas at the back of the CSSPS placement forms.  Submit the completed forms to the Head of the Junior High Schools or the District Examination Officer.  District Directors are to submit the completed forms to the Director, Secondary Education GES Headquarters.
  2. District Examination Officers will handle the completion of the 30% Catchment Area Allocation Placement Form.
  3. Candidates who have left the town or area where they took the BECE or opt for the 30% Catchment Area Allocation (CAA) may complete the placement form at the nearest District/Municipal/Metropolitan Education Office, and would be placed in their schools of choice by 6th October 2011.
  4. Candidate who complete the forms will be placed in ONE of the SHS listed depending upon the raw scores obtained and available vacancies and programmes. 
  5. Candidates who do not complete the 30% Catchment Area Allocation (CAA) placement form will be placed using the six choices made during registration i.e. 70%.
  6. The release of the results for the 70% placement will be on or before 25th September 2011, together with that of the re-entry candidates and foreign students.
  7. It must be noted that only interested candidates are encouraged to apply for consideration and school of preference is not guaranteed, since it is also based on merit.
  8. All completed forms should reach the Director, Secondary Education Division, GES Headquarters, P. O. Box M45, Accra latest by 12thSeptember 2011, for processing by the CSSPS Secretariat. These completed forms should be sent by candidates to the District Education Directorate for onward submission to the Director, Secondary Education Division.
  9. It must be strongly noted that these catchment area allocation forms are strictly not for sale. We entreat the general public therefore to report promptly to the police, if any official of the GES demands money from Parents, Guardians and Candidates for these forms.

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, these guidelines were put in the public domain through a press release issued on the 30th August 2011. I personally wish to register my profound gratitude to all the media houses including those in the regions who carried the release.

RECURRENT CHALLENGES
Ladies and gentlemen, it is important for the public to note that efforts have been made to address the challenges that affected the smooth placement of qualified candidates in the past, for example, wrong choice of school codes and gender.

Other challenges emanate from various requests from parents such as:

  1. Request for change of schools by parents after placement exercise.
  2. Choice of day schools by candidates who reside far away.
  3. Parents insistence on getting candidates placed in only first & second choice schools.
  4. False declaration or doctoring of result slips.
  5. Request for transfers on grounds of change of work, health, death of parent or guardian, poverty or financial hardship.
  6. Special requests for same sex twins to be in the same school without regard to performance at BECE.
  7. Requests for candidates to attend parents' former schools.
  8. Parent's interpretation of WAEC grades to represent wards performance as against processed raw scores used by GES for placement.

Increasing number of re-entry candidates who fill the re-entry form to compete for the current year's placement.
ADDRESSING THE CHALLENGES
Parents, Guardians and the General Public are advised to desist from mounting pressure on GES Officials in order for their wards to be admitted into their first choice schools. Government functionaries are also entreated not to put pressure on school heads for admission.  This is because no admission outside the CSSPS would be entertained.

CSSPS POLICY GUIDELINES- 2011
For the 2011 Edition of the CSSPS, the following guidelines were used in the Selection and Placement process:
1. Selection based on six subjects

  1. The number of subjects for selection into Senior High Schools is Six (6), and this comprises Core Subjects namely; English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Social Studies and two (2) other best elective subjects of the candidate.

      ii.    For Technical Institutes the subjects are English Language, Mathematics, Integrated Science, Basic Design and Technology and two (2) other best elective subjects.

  1. The use of Raw Scores of Candidates

The computerized system will use the total processed raw scores of Six subjects instead of grades of each candidate for the selection.

  1. Choice of Schools from Regions
  2. Under the CSSPS, candidates are free to select six schools from any number of Regions preferred. This is possible because all selection and placement of candidates will be done by the computer in one location.
  1. Each candidate was given six (6) choices of schools and programs as follows:
  2. First Choice             School and Programme
  3. Second Choice        School and Programme
  4. Third Choice            School and Programme
  5. Fourth Choice          School and Programme
  6. Fifth Choice             School and Programme
  7. Sixth Choice            School and Programme

 

  1. Where there is a problem of non-placement after the 6th Choice, such' candidates will be listed and the list will be processed by the CSSPS Secretariat as special cases.

4. Displacement

  1. Selection on Merit

The computer places all candidates into their first choice schools using the ranking order. The raw scores of each candidate are used to do the ranking.

  1. Displacement of 1st choice candidates and 2nd choice candidates as a matter of merit or better performance

The ranking may displace 1st choice candidates with 2nd choice candidates, etc.

This principle also applies to placement of all candidates and is on merit only.

 

  1. Selection at Cut-off Point                                                               

In the case of a tie in raw scores between candidates at cut-off point during selection, the computer considers firstly, English Language Score followed by Mathematics, and Social Studies in that order.

Each successful candidate is required to print out his/her placement form from the internet using a GES scratch card, at a price of four Ghana Cedis Only (GH¢4.00).

The print-out form will then be presented to the Senior High School for admission. A public announcement has already been made in the media on this issue. The CSSPS website address is as follows: www.myjhsresult.net

For suggestions and further information please e-mail the secretariat at info@csspsghana.com

The Scratch Cards can be obtained from the nearest Agricultural Development Bank (ADB) and its Agencies; and the ARB Apex Bank and its networks of Rural Banks. It can also be obtained at the State Insurance Corporation (SIC) Head Office in Accra.

Where no internet facilities exist candidates are to contact the nearest Regional or District Education Directorate.

The GES expects all CSSPS Regional Coordinators, Regional, District Directors of Education and Heads of Junior High Schools to facilitate the selection process. All stakeholders are also entreated to cooperate fully in this national exercise.

Friends of the media, Ladies and Gentlemen, whilst thanking you for your attention, permit me to state that we expect the full cooperation of the general public in this year's placement exercise.

As parents and candidates we implore you to accept your placement since it was based on your own choice of schools and programmes.

We further ask parents to show an interest in the registration of their BECE candidates in order to make inputs in their wards' choice of schools with the advice of their teachers. Such an important exercise should not be left solely with the teachers or pupils. There are a lot of complaints from parents that they do not know how particular schools were chosen by their candidates. It is when they are confronted with the truth that after all the choices were made by their wards themselves that they start to beg for transfer of school.

Parents can seek advice from seasoned educationists where they cannot contact Heads of schools. They are also advised to make all efforts to graduate downwards their choices of schools and not line up only oversubscribed schools.

This year we want all candidates to start Senior High School classes early. We are therefore using this medium to advise all Heads of Senior High Schools to re-open on schedule and declare their admission status promptly, anytime the GES makes a request for that during the 1st term. This will help GES place all unplaced candidates early enough to avoid loss of contact hours.
Friends of the media, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to take this opportunity to urge the media to facilitate the education of the public by partnering with the GES as we embark on a week-long public Education drive on the CSSPS with Radio/TV discussions and appearances. I will now yield the floor to you to ask your questions relating to the CSSPS and the guidelines for this year.

Thank you for your attention.