Accra: Some parents of Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates, who were placed in this year’s Senior and Technical High Schools, have appealed to authorities to extend the date for school reopening. The parents expressed concern about the short notice for school reopening for the first-year students entering the second-cycle schools.
According to Ghana News Agency, a statement from the Ministry of Education on October 28 urged heads of all Senior High Schools (SHSs) to begin registration and orientation on October 30, 2024, while academic work was set to commence by November 7, 2024. This announcement led to hundreds of parents and their wards gathering at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) headquarters in Accra to address challenges associated with their placement.
Some of the challenges observed include changes in school and course assignments, lack of placement, errors in gender, and issues relating to day and boarding school arrangements. Ms. Joyce Ababio, a concerned p
arent, highlighted the situation by stating, “The school reopened today, October 30, but we are here to address challenges on the placement. These challenges will take some days or weeks before they are addressed, while academic work starts on November 7.”
Another parent, Mrs. Lord Adjetey, shared that her son was placed at Ngleshie Amnfro SHS in Kasoa as a day student, even though they resided in Accra Newtown. She mentioned, “I am here to get a school close to my area since we could not get our first choice. So far the processes are okay, and we are hoping to get a quick response from them.”
Many parents appealed to the Ministry of Education to extend the reopening date to allow them to adequately prepare, citing psychological and mental stress caused by the placement issues. GNA observations at the resolution centers revealed parents and students waiting to resolve their concerns.
Out of the 563,339 candidates who sat for this year’s BECE, 553,155 qualified for placement into Senior High Schools and Tec
hnical and Vocational Education and Training Institutions. Of those qualified, 447,698 students, or 80.93%, were automatically placed into one of their selected school choices, while 104,918 qualified students could not be placed in any of their preferred choices. The statement encouraged students not placed in their preferred choices to use the self-placement platform to select schools with available slots.