The Ghana Education Service (GES) has rejected claims of a nationwide crisis over this year’s Senior High School (SHS) placement, saying the intense pressure being witnessed in Accra and the Ashanti Region does not reflect the situation across the country.

Daniel Fenyi, Head of Public Relations at the GES, said the current Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) has recorded a significant improvement in the number of automatic placements compared to previous years.

He said automatic placements have increased from 447,000 in 2024 and 483,000 in 2025 to 527,000 this year.

“So if you ask me what changed, what changed is a significant improvement in the automatic placements that were done this year.”

Mr Fenyi said the number of students relying on self-placement has also dropped sharply, from 107,000 last year to 53,000 as of September 10.

He said when automatic and self-placement figures are combined, between 93% and 95% of students have been placed.

“So all the discussions we are having now seem to be about the 5% margin of error which seems to have occurred.”

He criticised what he described as a “consistent, exaggerated narrative” over the past two to three weeks, suggesting that Ghana is facing a major placement crisis.

“I want to emphasise, Evans, that if you have a system that has been able to place about 95% of the students through automatic and self-placement put together, you cannot, by any stretch of imagination, call such a 95% efficiency a crisis. It cannot happen.”

Mr Fenyi said the challenge is also not a shortage of spaces, insisting there are about 800,000 spaces available for a little over 600,000 students seeking SHS education.

“There are actually vacancies for students, in fact every single Ghanaian student who sat for the BECE.”

He said the GES has established 17 resolution centres nationwide to address individual placement problems, including human errors, technical challenges and other isolated cases.

According to him, 15 of the centres are operating smoothly, while the heaviest pressure is being recorded in Accra and the Ashanti Region.

“Accra is not Ghana.”

He said large numbers of parents and students appearing at the GNAT Hall in Accra or at the Ashanti Region’s resolution centre should not be interpreted as evidence of a national crisis.

“Where we seem to have some overwhelming numbers, of course, and because of their proximity, they are able to make appearances on TV and radio, are the two centres, Accra and Ashanti Region.”

Mr Fenyi maintained that the situation at those two centres does not represent the entire country.

“So let me assuage the fears of stakeholders who might be following these placement issues critically. That if you have 17 places that are addressing issues, and 15 of them are running efficiently, you cannot say that the resolution centres or the placement itself has issues.”