Dr Tandoh says 10% of places in SHSs are reserved for people on protocol lists
GES speaks about school placement issues
GES is not denying admission to students – Dr Tandoh
The Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (in charge of Quality and Access), Dr. Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, has indicated that 90 percent of placements into public Senior High Schools (SHS) are merit-based.
Dr Tandoh said that the remaining 10 percent of places in public Senior High School placements are reserved for people on protocol lists,
The Deputy Director-General explained that other reserved places in the various schools are for teachers, traditional rulers and religious organisations that own these schools.
“.. most of our schools are mission schools and the missions themselves sometimes need spaces, especially in the seminaries for the seminarians, then we have the staff of GES and the Ministry and others who request protocol based on their relationship with staff within the GES and other key stakeholders.
“Every school in this country sits in the land of traditional rulers. Traditional rulers are largely one of the largest requests for protocols.
One of the key ways children are able to go to some of these schools is that they go to the Paramount Chief, and the chief, through his protocol, ensures that they gain admission to the school of their choice and this happens all across the country but 90% of the spaces are reserved for merit-based admission,” he said.
He reiterated that the unreserved places are totally merit-based and the grade of a student, school of choice, the programme is chosen, as well as their residential preference determine where they are placed.
Dr Tandoh added that the Ghana Education Service (GES) Senior High School placements was not intentionally denying admission into schools through the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), contrary to claims by some factions of the public.
