In Ghana, former official criticizes choice of two Category A schools
In Ghana, former Deputy Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Kwabena Bempah Tandoh, criticized allowing students to choose two Category A senior high schools during the 2026 placement process. In his view, the decision significantly increased the number of applications to institutions with a limited number of places, MyJoyOnline reports.
Tandoh, who is also a spokesperson for the NPP party’s education policy committee, said that previously students could choose only one Category A school alongside Category B and C institutions. Under the new model, each candidate may list two Category A schools, which, according to the former official, has created an additional burden on the Computerized School Selection and Placement System.
Demand and number of places
According to Tandoh, about 313,000 students selected Category A schools, while such institutions had approximately 76,417 places. He stressed that choosing a school does not guarantee admission, as placement depends on the candidate’s choices, academic performance, and available places.
He cited Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School as an example. According to Tandoh, the institution may have about 1,300 places overall, but only 200 places in a specific programme, including Science. If 5,000 candidates list this programme as their first choice, only the 200 students with the highest results can be admitted, while the others will be considered based on their subsequent options.
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Changes to the placement system
Tandoh also questioned informing students and parents that candidates with aggregate scores from 6 to 10 can enter Category A schools. In his view, such communication could have created expectations that the system cannot guarantee because of the limited number of places.
According to his data, Ghana has about 859,828 senior high school places in total for approximately 623,000 candidates. The former official believes that the problem is not an overall shortage of infrastructure, but a mismatch between demand for specific schools and programmes and their capacity.
Tandoh also linked the difficulties to changes in eligibility criteria in 2026. According to him, 54,985 candidates were initially deemed ineligible, but the Ministry of Education later allowed them to use the self-placement process.
