Improve computerised schools selection, placement system

12-01-09
Page 34

THE Conference of Second Cycle Schools under the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) has called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to as a matter of urgency improve upon the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
That, it said, was in view of the numerous problems associated with the system, adding that the system would have to be improved so that all qualified candidates would report to school at the same time.
“The GNAPS expects that the placement exercise should be done once. Students who are not placed would have to seek admission into any of the other branches of secondary education so that Ghana would develop a wider resource base,” it said, adding that it was not for the officials of the GES or Ministry of Education to do manual placement thus exposing the CSSPS to all manner of abuses.
An eight-point document made available to the Daily Graphic said there should be no second and third mopping-up placements, and that students caught up in such exercise reported to school late and became handicapped in key subjects like mathematics and science.
It said the situation where candidates who were unplaced were directed to see the heads of schools in their communities was a recipe for corruption.
“Presently, there is too much human interference with the computer selection process,” it alleged.
GNAPS said if students chose private schools, such students should be placed in the schools of their choice, adding that “it appears the inclusion of private schools on the system is mere paper work”.
It said the operators of the system had ignored the private schools, a situation that could create serious dislocation in the national education structure.
A full participation of private schools in the system, it said, should be adhered to, since they played an important role in the country’s educational system.
The GNAPS called on the Ministry of Education to investigate the operations of the CSSPS and the apparatus of the GES in the admission of students for the 2008/2009 academic year.
It said after a period of trial, the system should be opened for public debate and evaluation.
“The CSSPS was introduced to correct the anomalies of the manual system. The originators of the system built it on guidelines based on moral principles of equity, justice and respect for fundamental rights and fairness,” it said.