The Ministry of Education has extended the 2026 Senior High School (SHS) placement exercise by one week to allow students with outstanding placement issues to secure schools ahead of the September 18 reopening.

The extension is expected to give students undertaking self-placement or seeking changes to their residential status additional time to complete the process.

Resolution centres across the country will remain open from Monday to Friday to address outstanding placement cases.

Press Secretary to the Education Minister, Hashmin Mohammed, told JoyNews that significant progress had been made in resolving the challenges.

He said out of the 53,887 students eligible for self-placement, 33,726 had successfully secured placement in various schools.

He added that the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) Secretariat had resolved 4,531 of the 9,948 cases reported at resolution centres across the country.

“Out of the 53,887 category of self-placement students, we have had 33,726 who have been able to self-place themselves into various schools and out of 9,948 reported cases at the resolution centres throughout the country, the CSSPS Secretariat has been able to resolve 4,531 so far,” he said.

Mr Mohammed said the Ministry was hopeful of significantly reducing the number of outstanding cases before students report to school on September 18.

“The resolution centres will remain active from Monday till Friday, and we are hoping that by Friday, the numbers should be able to go down because on September 18, they will report to school,” he added.