The Deputy National Coordinator at the Secretariat, Nana Afrah Sika Mensah, revealed to Adom News that they were taken aback by the action.

She explained the Electricity Company of Ghana (ECG) usually submits bills to them for processing and payment, after which the appropriate schools are credited accordingly.

Nana Afrah further disclosed that the Secretariat had already paid GH₵5 million to ECG, making the disconnection even more unexpected.

She assured the public that lessons have been learned from this incident and measures will be put in place to prevent such occurrences in the future.

The disconnection which plunged Accra Academy into total darkness on Monday has raised concerns about the impact on students’ education and the smooth running of the school.

The Free SHS Secretariat remains committed to ensuring that such disruptions do not happen again, as they continue to support the education sector in Ghana.

The incident serves as a reminder of the challenges faced by educational institutions in the country and the need for effective communication and coordination between stakeholders to prevent such issues.

The Free SHS Secretariat’s pledge to address the situation is a positive step towards ensuring that students receive the education they deserve without unnecessary interruptions.

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The Stemnnovation program has rapidly gained momentum, largely due to its innovative approach.

Nana Afrah Sika Mensah highlighted the impact of this initiative on young minds.

“We have given the themes to the children, and because of the urban gardening element that was introduced, we decided to give them three months to develop their projects” she stated.

As the September 24 submission deadline approaches, students are diligently working on their projects.

Nana Afrah Sika Mensah explained the timeline, saying, “After September 24th, from October 25th to 29th, we will hand over the projects to a team of judges for a thorough evaluation.”

This rigorous assessment process ensures that the best ideas and innovations rise to the top.

The grand finale of STEMNNOVATION 2023 will take place at the University of Ghana (Legon), where participants will showcase their projects.

This event promises to be a culmination of creativity, knowledge, and teamwork.

About 259 schools have already registered for STEMNNOVATION 2023.

Nana Afrah in an interview on Adom News noted that, while this number is impressive, the final count of projects submitted may vary, as some students may need more time to complete their work.

Additionally, the program offers flexibility, allowing participants to register for multiple projects under various themes, including urban gardening, clean water, and efficient use of electricity.

STEMNNOVATION 2023 is not only fostering a passion for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) among students but also encouraging them to think critically, innovate, and develop solutions for real-world challenges.

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The competition officially starts with the submission of project videos from all contesting institutions nationwide on 25th to 29th September 2023 after training staff, regional coordinators, coaches and their students, and judges from 7th June to 8th August 2023.

Out of the 250 contesting institutions, 123 of them will be submitting innovative projects in urban gardening, 69 in the flexible use of electricity and 52 submitting videos on clean water projects.

Eastern and Ashanti regions submitted the highest number of contesting schools with 46 entries each while Western North region registered only three entries for the competition.

Speaking to the media in Accra on Friday, the Deputy Coordinator of the Free Senior High School Secretariat, Miss Afrah Mensah Sika, stated that the competition will see all the participating schools locking horns with their creative potential in finding solutions to challenges confronting their immediate community or the country.

She indicated that all the participating institutions are current beneficiaries of the Free Senior High Programme and would use the contest to assess what they have been learning at school, at home or outside school with their peers in their societies.

Miss Afra Sika explained that pre-judging and shortlisting of the top 20 in each project category will be done between 2nd and 5th October followed by the online judging of the top 20 in each category from 9th to 13th October 2023.

The Deputy Coordinator stated that after the line up of the top 20, those who would qualify for the grand finale will pitch camp in Accra from 24th October to prepare for the ultimate finals scheduled to take place on 26th October 2023.

She said that each institution would be represented by two students for presentations of their projects, adding that this year’s edition of the event would be more competitive.

This year’s competition which has the theme ‘Future–Proofing Socio-Economic Development in Ghana through STEM Education’ creates an opportunity for all Senior High as well as Technical and Vocational Education Training institutions to showcase their prowess in innovative projects.

Last year, a total of 200 schools submitted videos of their projects meant for the contest but only 97 of the schools qualified after going through vetting by the team of experts put together for that purpose.

The Kumasi Academy Senior High School (SHS) won the maiden edition of the competition after scoring 24.6 points to beat Pope John Senior High and Seminary and the enterprising Worawora Senior High School with 24.4 and 23.8 points to place 1st and 2nd positions respectively.

For emerging winners, Kumasi Academy SHS took home a trophy, a laptop, a printer and a Gh12,000 cash prize.

Deputy Coordinator for the Free Senior High School programme, Nana Afrah Sika Mensah, in an interview with Citi News said the young man has defrauded a parent of a sum of over GH¢1,000.00 after he claimed he could help get placement for their ward.

She advised that parents should desist from engaging third parties in the school placement process.

“As we have been saying all this while, let us all be vigilant. We will not use crooked means to place students in schools. Let us be watchful,” she said.

This comes on the back of a scandal that hit the Computerized School Selection and Placement System.

The Computerized School Selection and Placement System has come under scrutiny following allegations that some persons receive money in order to change schools for wards of some parents.

The GES had earlier cautioned the general public against unscrupulous persons who may likely defraud guardians under the pretext of securing placement for their wards into their supposed preferred senior high schools.

The CSSPS is the only system used by the Ghana Education Service to place qualified Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates into Senior High Schools (SHS), Technical Institutes (TI), and Vocational Institutes across the country.

GES prayed guardians to be on the lookout for such deceitful persons and help report them to the nearest police station for onward prosecution to deter others from engaging in the annual happening.

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“Management strongly cautions the general public not to fall prey to deceitful persons who may approach them to pay money for a place in SHS. Such persons are to be reported immediately to the Police.”

Nana Yaa Jantuah believes the coordinator erred in a statement she made about the ongoing Senior High School (SHS) placement, given the fact that the outfit is meant to be a resolution centre.

This comes on the back of Nana Afrah’s comments on the challenges associated with the Computerised School Selection Placement System (CSSPS).

Hundreds of parents of students who sat for the 2022 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) since last Thursday have thronged the GNAT Hall in Accra for placement.

Asked whether the secretariat can resolve all issues regarding the placement of BECE graduates, Madam Mensah said “provided there is a space in the choice that they have made, if there is a space, we will replace it for them but if there is no space we can’t do anything for them but we will give them options so that out of those schools they will choose and we send to the resolution for them to resolve the issues.”

Reacting to the comments on Adom FM’s Dwaso Nsem, the outspoken politician said the statement was unfair to students who had good grades but for one reason or another had not been placed.

Nana Yaa said she could not fathom why there are challenges with the placement annually but the Secretariat has done very little to address them permanently.

“Nana Afreh Sika asked the children to attend any school but she didn’t speak well. Each child has their vision and the school they want to attend. Some had to burn the midnight candle and they passed so why do you expect them to attend any school at all? It’s clear this government doesn’t honour excellence if not, she wouldn’t have spoken in that manner,” she said.

Meanwhile, the GES has said a total of 165,601 will have to do self-placement because they could not be matched to their school of choice.

GES in a statement revealed that out of the 547,329 candidates who sat for the examination, 538,399 qualified for school placement.

Out of these, 372,780 candidates have automatically been placed into various schools.

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Play audio below:

According to the free SHS Secretariat, over 2,000 issues raised concerning placement have been addressed.

The Deputy Coordinator, Nana Afrah Sika Mensah, made the disclosure in an interview with Adom News.

He, however, bemoaned the rise of middlemen aka Goro boys is affecting the delivery of their outcomes.

Mr Mensah has, therefore, urged parents to be wary of such unscrupulous persons in order not to fall victims to their schemes as the resolution centres charge no fees.

He added it is better for parents and their wards to visit the resolution centres which are nationwide with all concerns regarding the placement.

The Education Ministry on March 26, 2022, released the computerised placement for candidates who sat for the 2021 Basic Education Certificate Examination.

This followed the release of their results by the West African Examination Council on February 28, 2022.

The Ministry has pledged commitment to ensuring that all qualified candidates are placed successfully.

Though students were required to report to school on Monday, April 4, 2022, the ministry says the resolution centres across the 16 regions will be opened and will continue to operate beyond the said date.

The Coordinator of the Free SHS Secretariat, William Darkwah, who announced this, explained that the move was to ensure that parents, students and other stakeholders do not go through difficulties, during and after the placement.

He mentioned some of the measures put in place as the various communication strategies to inform, educate, and communicate with all stakeholders to foster goodwill in terms of the CSSPS processes and enhance a mutually beneficial relationship with our cherished stakeholders.

Briefing the media in Accra last Friday on what parents and what stakeholders should expect this year during and after the placement, Mr Darkwah stated that all the measures that had been put in place so far are all geared towards minimising drastically the high rate of complaints received after the placements into Senior High Schools.

He enumerated some of the measures that had been put in place as the establishment of call centres to receive complaints from parents with challenges after the placement.

The Coordinator said the call centres to be managed by 75 trained on good customer service skills will attend to people who would be inquiring, seeking clarification and other information on the placement.

“Apart from the call centres, we are going to make good use of the traditional media such as television stations, radio and newspapers to communicate crucial information that might be beneficial to all parents and other stakeholders concerning the placement,” Mr Darkwa said.

He mentioned that there is going to be the establishment of a national and regional solution centre across the country to offer a face-to-face opportunity to parents, students, the media and other stakeholders to meet the technical team from the CSSPS and Free SHS Secretariat to address their peculiar issues instantly.

Mr Darkwah said at the Regional Levels, a four-member team will be at each of the centres in the 16 Regions to Collate and send to the National technical team issues compiled for redress.

He was upbeat that with the various measures put in place, all parents and other stakeholders would have the opportunity to be involved in finding solutions to any issue they might be confronted with during the placement period.

The Coordinator appealed to all parents to desist from falling prey to fraudsters who will go round deceiving people with the assurance of helping them to get the placement of their wards in schools of their choice.