The Ghana Education Service says it will adopt innovative means to monitor the performance of students who will be home while their colleagues are in school.

Public Relations Officer, Cassandra Twum Ampofo, says the Service is also considering placing phone calls to the students to find out how they are coping and provide assistance where necessary. 

This would, however, happen after the candidates have successfully gone through the admission process and have been provided with some academic materials, Ms. Twum Ampofo told Super Morning Show host, Daniel Dadzie, Thursday.

Some 423,134 candidates who sat for this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and successfully made it under the 2018 Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), have been placed into their choice of Senior High Schools.

Read: How the new double track system for SHS will run

They have been grouped into two tracks –Green and Gold- as the new double track system introduced by the government to deal with infrastructure challenges begin.

Green Track will resume on September 11, 2018, whereas the Gold Track will resume on November 8, 2018.

“When they [candidates] go to school for their prospectus and go through the admission process, we will give them some academic materials [handouts]… so they wouldn’t feel bored and then the parent would also know that the child has something to do,” Ms. Twum Ampofo explained.

“And we are also working out to ensure that even at home, once we have their details, once a while we will give them a phone call to find out how they are faring with the assignments that they have been given. This is for them to feel a part of the system just that they are waiting for their colleagues to be off and then they would come back and so we have plans to keep the students engaged while home, the PRO added.

She, however, said it is the responsibility of parents to ensure that their children study while they wait at home to take their turn in school.

“Education is a shared responsibility once your ward is at home it is your responsibility to make sure that he or she studies. So the parents have a role [and] we also have a role,” she said.

Self-placements

Meanwhile, the GES says some 67,382 students who qualified to SHS but could not be placed under the system should visit www.cssps.gov.gh to do a self-placement at schools with vacancies available for their chosen programmes.

Some 400 out of the 696 public Senior High Schools have been selected to operate the double system. The double intake will bring the total of newly proposed enrollment to 387, 592 students, with 193,796 as the total double intake per track.

Read: Over 67,000 could not get SHS of choice; GNAT calls for an extension of reopening date

Regional breakdown of schools:

Ashanti Region                          –            79

Brong Ahafo Region                  –            41

Central Region                          –             45

Eastern Region                          –            60

Greater Accra Region                –            42

Northern Region                        –            33

Upper East Region                    –            18

Upper West Region                   –            19

Volta Region                              –            30

Western Region                         –            35