Head of the Public Relations Unit of the GES, Daniel Fenyi, says the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) should now largely be viewed as a placement examination rather than a test that determines whether a child can progress to senior high school (SHS).

He says access to SHS is a right of every child, and the placement system is designed to determine where a qualified student can be accommodated based on available spaces, examination results and the choices made by the candidate.

Speaking on Joy FM’s Newsnight on Monday, September 9, Mr Fenyi said the BECE no longer determines who is allowed to continue their education.

“The BECE itself is now more or less a placement examination. It doesn’t determine who can move forward and who cannot, because moving forward is a right of the child,” he stated.

He explained that once a student qualifies for placement, the key consideration becomes finding an appropriate school and programme based on the available capacity and the candidate’s choices.

According to him, students may therefore be placed in different schools depending on the spaces available and the results they obtained.

“What you can do, based on the spaces available, based on the results they obtained, based on the choices they themselves made, is that you can place a student in school A and then another in school B, place one in school F, the another in school C. That's all we can be doing, placement,” he said.

Mr Fenyi stressed that the objective of the placement system is to ensure that no qualified child is denied access to SHS education.

“The whole logic behind this whole placement is that the access to senior high education is the right of the child. It’s not a privilege. It’s not some privilege we are giving to them. It is actually their right,” he stated.

His comments come amid concerns from some parents and candidates over difficulties with the ongoing CSSPS placement process, particularly regarding school choices, boarding arrangements and access to highly sought-after institutions.

Meanwhile, Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, has described the government’s decision to allow students to select senior high schools after the release of their BECE results as a “backward approach”.