The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has directed all heads of Senior High Schools, Senior High Technical Schools, and Technical and Vocational Institutes not to admit students outside the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

In a directive communicated through the Directors-General of the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana TVET Service, the Education Minister strongly cautioned all heads of second-cycle institutions to desist from admitting students manually or outside the approved CSSPS process.

“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, a copy of which the Daily Graphic has seen, stated.

The directive, according to the ministry, was in line with the government’s commitment to improving access to secondary education and strengthening the integrity of placement and enrolment processes.

It explained that a critical part of achieving the objectives of the World Bank-funded Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs Project, known as STARR-J, intended to expand and improve teaching and learning infrastructure, was strict adherence to approved vacancy declarations and enrolment thresholds.

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

The Ministry of Education said the practice of under-declaring vacancies and later admitting students outside the CSSPS undermined the integrity of the placement process, created data inconsistencies, and distorted enrolment planning.

That also affected budget projections, creating serious challenges for the timely and accurate disbursement of funds to schools.

The directive explained that under the 2026 placement cycle, the CSSPS has been enhanced to include a built-in enrollment component to provide a comprehensive end-to-end system for the placement and enrollment of students.

“Accordingly, once vacancies are declared, validated, and confirmed on the system, there shall be no further expansion of vacancies.

The exact number of students placed through the CSSPS shall constitute the approved enrollment for each school. No school head is permitted to admit any student outside the CSSPS,” the directive stressed.

The Ministry of Education last Friday night released the 2026 senior high school placement for qualified Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) graduates amid mixed reactions from parents and guardians.

While those who got their first-choice schools were excited, those who had good grades but could not get their choices due to competition expressed disappointment and called for immediate changes to be effected.

The situation was even worse for those who had to do self-placement on the CSSPS.

One other complaint that came up was the situation where students were placed in day schools far from where they reside.

This year’s placement followed a novelty introduced by the Ministry of Education, where BECE graduates had the opportunity to see their results before selecting their second cycle schools.

The move was to give them a fair idea of their performance before they make their choices.

The BECE was written from May 4, 2026, to May 11, 2026.

All 620,141 candidates, comprising 304,349 boys and 315,792 girls, representing an increase in last year's figure by almost 2.7 percent from 20,395 schools, sat for the examination across the country.

The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, is expected to hold a press conference today to provide information on this year’s exercise and the way forward for those who have issues.