GES Must Explain Its Careless Admissions

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The Ghana Education Service (GES) has more explanation to offer about the admission to senior high schools of students whose results were cancelled at the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) level.

The GES has said the admission of the unqualified students was done inadvertently.

Granted that that was the case, can officials of the Computerised Schools Selection and Placement System ( CSSPS) Secretariat defend their action?

Well, we have left that to the GES to get to the bottom of this inadvertent action that will embarrass the students in question and their families.

Officials of the GES have not been able to explain why the mistake was made. We are unable to hazard any guess, but at this stage if we have any, we will not do so as we may not be able to substantiate our position.

Nonetheless, it is noteworthy that at this stage the GES is not able to tell the exact number of students who have been admitted to the SHSs by default.

The Daily Graphic hopes that the GES will not only tell the public the exact number of students who will be affected but will go a step further to investigate the circumstances that led to this mistake.

We have decided to raise questions about this inadvertent placement of the students because students and parents have always complained about the activities of the CSSPS.

The CSSPS as a human institution is not a perfect organisation. There are certain limitations that the GES is trying to address.

There have been occasions when females were posted to male schools while on other occasions, students were sent to schools where the programmes they chose were not taught.

We concede that the CSSPS was introduced to cure certain shortcomings associated with the previous arrangements where school heads decided on admissions independently.

The CSSPS has not been able to resolve the admission blues as parents and their children still besiege the schools during admission seasons.

Now, the authorities have managed to remove the ?cocoa season? from the schools to the corridors of the CSSPS where parents who want admission to the top schools must establish the right contacts.

We know that although the situation has improved, as far as the frustration that parents go through to seek admission for their children with the introduction of the CSSPS is concerned, there are still challenges with the admission processes at the beginning of every academic year.

The Daily Graphic does not want to apportion blame for the inadvertent admission to the SHSs but the action cannot be swept under the carpet.

We think the mistake is very serious for which the GES must launch an immediate? investigations to get to the bottom of the matter in order to avoid a recurrence.

The Daily Graphic thinks that the axe must fall on anybody whose deliberate action led to the admission of unqualified students to the senior high schools.

Wrongdoing must not be condoned in any way to serve as a deterrent to others? so that we do not kill the crusade by the West African Examinations Council to uproot examination malpractices from the schools.

Daily Graphic Dec 17, 2013

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