Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has clarified that the recurring challenges with the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) are less about limited space and more about the mismatch between student and parent expectations and the resources available.
Speaking on Channel One TV on Saturday, September 27, 2025, Mr Asare explained that while the government has adequate capacity to absorb all qualified students, competition arises because most parents and candidates target a small number of elite schools.
“The problems are not entirely new apart from one which is new, a problem that was resolved in the past, I don’t know how it resurfaced this year. But generally, the issues relating to parents’ resentment toward schools that the computer placed them are normal, and they will continue as long as we have inadequate resources as a lower-middle-income country,” he said.
According to him, all 590,000 students who qualified for Senior High School placement this year can be admitted, but the real difficulty lies in parental preferences.
“The government of Ghana has adequate spaces to accommodate all 590,000 candidates who have qualified for placement. What the government does not have is the taste of all the 590,000 students. So there will definitely be some imbalance between the expectations of candidates and parents on one hand, and government’s ability to provide education to their taste on the other,” he noted.
He added that, despite Ghana having more than 700 Senior High Schools, the majority of parents and candidates compete for placement in fewer than 100 Category A and B schools, which creates unnecessary pressure.
“Everybody wants to attend a good Category A or B school. You have over 700 Senior High Schools, but people are chasing about 100 schools. So these issues will continue to emerge so far as there are resource deficits,” he emphasised.
Mr Asare concluded that unless the infrastructure gap is bridged, placement-related tensions will remain a recurring feature of Ghana’s education system.
Source: Adomonline
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