Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South and member of Parliament’s Education Committee, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, has criticised the government over the 2026 Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) exercise, saying the current crisis was foreseeable.

The MP said he warned in April that the government’s decision to allow candidates to select senior high schools after receiving their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results could create significant challenges.

He described the policy as a “backward approach” and said the large number of candidates unable to secure their preferred schools demonstrated the weaknesses in the new system.

“The B.E.C.E. was not quite impressive. I mean, overall performance where you have a huge number who have not been placed in any of the schools that they selected is quite troubling,” Dr Agyemang said.

Dr Agyemang referred to an interview he granted in April 2026 in which he said he had anticipated problems with the revised placement process.

“If your listeners or viewers can rewind their minds to an interview I granted on your network in April this year, I hinted strongly that we're going to get to this position. And truth be told, this is where we are now,” he said.

He argued that allowing candidates to see their examination results before choosing schools would naturally lead to increased demand for highly subscribed institutions.

“If you had more people seeing their results and deciding to go to category A schools, it would be the solution. And that is where we are. Very, very unfortunate,” he said.

Dr Agyemang pointed to figures released by the Ministry of Education showing a significant disparity between demand for Category A schools and available places.

According to the data, 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, while only 76,417 vacancies were declared in those schools.

“In which jurisdiction have you heard that schools are selected after results have been released?” he asked.

“How are you going to place the over 200,000 people who are eligible or qualify for category A school but vacancies are just 76,000? I don't think we needed rocket science to anticipate this.”

The MP said the situation had deteriorated compared with the previous placement exercise.

“Last year was chaotic, if you remember. This year is worse. This year is worse,” he said.

The Ministry of Education, however, maintains that the problem is not a shortage of places within the secondary education system but a mismatch between available vacancies and candidates’ preferred schools.

Deputy Education Minister Dr Clement Abas Apaak said 859,828 vacancies had been declared across the secondary education system, exceeding the number of qualified candidates.

“The issue, therefore, is not simply the availability of spaces in our secondary education system. It is largely a mismatch between where vacancies exist and where candidates most strongly prefer to be placed,” he said.

Category B schools declared 250,366 vacancies, while Category C schools had 468,652 vacancies.

The Ministry has opened the CSSPS self-placement portal for candidates who were not automatically matched with their choices.

Candidates who obtained a score of 9 in English Language or Mathematics are also eligible to use the self-placement system to select from schools and programmes with available vacancies.

Placement resolution centres have also been established at the regional and national levels, with GNAT Hall in Accra serving as the National Placement Resolution Centre.

The 2026 placement exercise followed changes announced by Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu in April, under which candidates were required to select their preferred senior high schools after receiving their BECE results.

The government said the change was intended to allow candidates to make more informed choices based on their examination performance.

Candidates were also required to select eight preferred schools, while the 2026 exercise introduced decentralised complaints centres and digital options for downloading admission documents.

The Ministry has urged affected candidates and parents to use the self-placement system and resolution centres to address outstanding concerns.

It has also cautioned school authorities against admitting students outside the approved placement system and reiterated that CSSPS placement is free.

Members of the public have been encouraged to report anyone demanding payment for placement to the Ghana Police Service or the Office of the Special Prosecutor.