Over 620,000 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) graduates have begun selecting their second cycle schools following a novelty introduced by the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service (GES) to select schools after the release of the BECE results.

The decision to select the schools after the release of the results is to enable the graduates to select schools based on their grades to ensure a seamless placement into their institutions of choice.

This is to prevent the situation where those with uncompetitive grades selected Category A schools, for instance, which usually left such schools oversubscribed.

The situation over the years resulted in some uncompetitive grades not being placed at all, compelling them to converge on resolution centres, where long queues and sometimes chaotic scenes attended the resolution process.

Others took the self-placement route to secure a school.

In view of the change in the selection policy, parents, guardians and their wards began thronging basic schools from last Monday to go through the selection exercise of the BECE graduates’ second cycle school choices. 

Novelty

This is the first time candidates are selecting their schools after the release of the results.

Previously, students selected their senior high and technical school choices before sitting the BECE.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the BECE results last Saturday, triggering the ongoing selection process.

The graduates would be applying for first-year vacancies in second cycle institutions across the country, with the commencement of the 2026-2027 academic year.

A total of 620,243 candidates, comprising 304,415 males and 315,828 females from 20,789 participating schools, entered for the school examination. 

Guidelines

Per the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) guidelines issued on August 3, 2026, candidates who sat this year's BECE would be allowed to select a maximum of two Category A schools for placement into SHSs and technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions under the CSSPS.

The directive is contained in the 2026 SHS/TVET School Selection and CSSPS Placement Guide issued jointly by the Ministry of Education, the Ghana Education Service (GES) and the Ghana TVET Service.

Under the guidelines, candidates are required to select eight schools in order of preference, indicate their preferred programmes, and state whether they wish to be boarding or day students.

The guide states that candidates may choose not more than two Category A schools and up to three Category B schools.

The remaining three choices must be made from Category C schools.

It also states that no candidate is permitted to select the same school more than once.

The GES explained that placement under the CSSPS was not based on aggregate scores alone.

It said automatic placement took into account a candidate's aggregate, programme of choice, boarding or day preference and the availability of vacancies.

Aggregate

“Your aggregate is important, but it is not the only factor," the guidelines explained.

It also advised candidates to rank their schools carefully, with their first choice being the school they most wish to attend.

On accommodation, candidates are allowed to select a maximum of five boarding schools and three day schools.

It further advised candidates to choose day schools that were within a reasonable travelling distance from their homes.

Candidates who are successfully placed will receive a placement slip showing their assigned school, programme, boarding or day status, and reporting date.

They are required to print the slip and present it when reporting to their assigned schools.

School heads, parents

The Head teacher of Awudome ‘1’ Junior High School, Janet Owusua, said it was left with just one candidate to finish with the selection exercise as of 2 p.m. yesterday.

“You know my school is a model school; even as we speak, it is left with one person.

They have all come,” she said, adding that they all reported with their results slips.

She said the Computing teacher had created a platform for the parents and used that to educate them on the process, and that every parent and their children had selected their schools before coming in.

The SHS albums posted on the platform, she said, were used to educate parents on the dos and don’ts.

“So, they knew what they were supposed to do. Before they came, they all had their schools with them,” she said.

An educationist at St Augustine’s Anglican Basic School, Isaac Bondzie, told the Daily Graphic that allowing graduates to select schools after the release of results was the best because it enabled them to make the right choices.

On the first day of selection, he said, about a third of the graduates and their parents reported for the selection exercise.

He said the candidates had to report to the schools for the exercise to be carried out.

GNACOPS

For his part, the Executive Director of the Ghana National Council of Private Schools, Enoch Kwesi Gyetuah, said the exercise had been smooth in all the institutions.

He said GNACOPS was more concerned about the BECE results.

“As we speak, there are no issues regarding the placement.

We are waiting for next week to see whether there would be any issue,” he said.

The private schools, he said, began the exercise last Monday and were expected to end by Friday.

Mr Gyetuah said those whose results were being withheld had issues with WAEC.

Shirley, a parent who went to her daughter’s school to go through the selection process, said parents were given forms to select and return them on Thursday.

She said they were told that the GES would open the portal on Friday to upload the details.

Another parent, Atta Quartey, said he was also able to select schools for her daughter without any problem.