The New Patriotic Party has rejected the government’s handling of the BECE school placement challenge, demanding confirmed places for 54,985 candidates who were not assigned senior high schools during the initial exercise.
In a statement signed by NPP Policy Co-ordination Committee Chairman Kojo Oppong Nkrumah, the party argued that allowing the affected candidates to use the Computerised School Selection and Placement System does not settle the matter.
“A portal is not a school place,” the statement said.
The party fears that some candidates may find their preferred schools, programmes or residential options unavailable when they attempt self placement.
Families could then be forced to accept schools far from home or courses the candidates did not originally select.
Demand concentrated in top schools
The NPP questioned why thousands remain unplaced when government data reportedly show 859,828 vacancies for 623,072 candidates.
It said the figures point to a distribution problem rather than a nationwide lack of capacity.
Category A schools remain the centre of the pressure. According to the party, 313,283 candidates selected schools in that category as their first choice, chasing only 76,417 available places.
The NPP wants the government to strengthen less preferred schools by improving their facilities, staffing and academic programmes.
It also proposed using the 85 private schools participating in the Free Senior High School programme to accommodate some affected candidates.
Party demands final placement figures
The opposition party has asked the government to publish the final outcome of the exercise, showing how many of the original 54,985 candidates eventually secure admission.
“Ghanaian parents and candidates will judge the resolution of the challenge by one thing only: how many of the original 54,985 are sitting in a classroom, not how many were allowed to open a website,” it said.
The party maintains that the placement exercise will remain incomplete until candidates move from the online portal into actual classrooms.
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