By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, Sept 10, GNA – School for Life, a non-government organisation (NGO), has raised concerns about the equity implications of the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination’s (BECE) grading and school placement system.
It said while it welcomed efforts to improve standards within the country’s education system, the current grading and placement arrangements could disproportionately disadvantage children from underserved and under-resourced communities.
It said Ghana’s education system continued to be characterised by disparities in access to qualified teachers, quality learning environments, infrastructure, teaching and learning materials and other educational resources.
This was contained in a statement issued by School for Life and copied to the Ghana News Agency in Tamale.
The statement said the use of a ranking-based grading system within such an unequal educational environment raised concerns about fairness.
It said ranking-based grading assessed learners relative to the performance of their peers rather than against clearly defined performance standards putting children from under-resourced schools at a disadvantage.
The system, the School for Life said, could therefore become more difficult for learners from deprived communities to attain the highest grades including placement within the top four per cent threshold, which had implications for access to highly sought-after or Category A schools.
It advocated a criterion-referenced grading system similar to what is used for the West African Senior School Certificate Examinations where grades were determined against fixed performance benchmarks.
The statement underscored need for policymakers to review the current grading approach while intensifying investments in underperforming public basic schools to give every child irrespective of location or background an equal opportunity to succeed.
It also expressed concern over reports that some candidates, who obtained single-digit aggregate scores, were unable to secure admission into their first-choice schools.
It said there were also reports of some candidates being placed in schools they did not select including day schools located far from their communities, creating additional challenges for learners and their families.
These developments raised questions about the relationship between the grading system and the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) and called for greater transparency.
The statement said, “if raw scores are ultimately used to determine admission into categories of schools, then greater transparency is needed regarding the role and significance of the grading system.”
It called for clearer information on how grades, raw scores, school choices and available vacancies interacted to determine placement outcomes saying that would strengthen public confidence in the system.
It also expressed concern about the approximately 57,259 candidates, who were not automatically placed under the CSSPS.
While welcoming assurances that affected candidates would have opportunities for self-placement and that candidates, who were unable to sit the examinations would be given an opportunity to re-sit, the statement urged authorities to implement the measures effectively, transparently and without delay.
It said many affected learners were likely to come from disadvantaged backgrounds and under-resourced schools, and their inability to secure placement should be considered within the broader context of inequalities in access to quality education.
It urged the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service and other stakeholders to provide adequate guidance, support and information to affected learners to enable them to continue their education without interruption.
The statement said the intense competition for limited spaces in elite or Category A schools pointed to deeper structural challenges particularly disparities in infrastructure, learning resources and educational outcomes.
It, therefore, called on the government to accelerate efforts to improve conditions across all Senior High Schools through equitable investment in infrastructure, teaching quality, learning resources and student support services stressing that a child’s future should not be determined by the category of school attended but by the quality of education received.
GNA
Edited by Edited by Albert Futukpor/Benjamin Mensah
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