By Lydia Baye/Grace Yayra Kagatse
Accra, Sept. 10, GNA – The Reverend Michael Commey, the Accra Regional Coordinator for Free SHS, has defended the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), saying it has significantly improved since its introduction in 2017.
He said the system was functioning effectively, despite some placement anomalies that required correction.
Rev. Commey was speaking at the resolution centre at the GNAT Hall in Accra, where hundreds of parents and students had gathered to seek redress for placement-related concerns.
“We are using a system. Everywhere we do that since 2017. So, we don’t have any particular challenges,” he told the Ghana News Agency in an interview on Tuesday.
Rev. Commey, however, acknowledged that some students were occasionally placed in schools far from their communities, resulting in difficulties that required administrative intervention.
He cited instances where students residing in Accra had been placed as day students in schools in Tamale, making it impractical for them to commute daily.
“Somebody is in Accra, they have given him a day’s stay in Tamale. The person cannot move out of Accra and go to Tamale. When they bring it here, then we just correct the issue,” he explained.
Asked whether the placement situation had improved, Rev. Commey responded: “Yes, very improved.”
His comments came as parents and students at the resolution centre raised concerns over distant placements, discrepancies between day and boarding placements, and students being assigned to schools different from those they had selected.
Some parents said the distance between their homes and the schools to which their children had been placed would make daily transportation difficult and costly.
Others questioned the suitability of day placements for younger students, particularly where the assigned schools were located far from their homes.
Some students also appealed for placement changes on personal grounds, including cases where siblings had been assigned to different schools.
In one instance, a student whose twin brother had been placed in a different school appealed to the officials to consider placing both siblings in the same school.
Meanwhile, officials at the resolution centre were attending to complaints and asking affected students to select three alternative schools for consideration.
The large turnout at the centre resulted in long queues, with some parents whose cases could not be resolved immediately indicating their intention to return early the next day to seek assistance.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe