By Gifty Xornam Adonoo
The issue of money changing hands during school placement has always been a grave national concern. With the latest expose’ on the cartel involved in the sale of school placement into Category ‘A’ schools, the call has gone out to duty bearers to help the nation tackle the issue head-on.
Speaking to GBC News, Investigative Journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, who worked on the documentary, said “so far the duty bearers appear to be concerned that this documentary is out and it touches on one of the most critical aspects of our national lives, education.”
It is in this regard that the issue of the Computerized School Selection and Placement System, (CSSPS), going to the highest bidder, must not be allowed to continue.
Mr. Awuni noted that ‘some have argued that, the practice has been in the system for a very long period of time, only that, it is just now being revealed because the payments are becoming outrageous.’
He welcomes the statements from the education authorities in which they warned parents and guardians not to pay money to anyone posing as agents.
“Before the documentary even came out, both the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service, GES, released press statements warning parents not pay money to unscrupulous persons who are claiming that they have access to placement.”
“I have also seen and heard reactions from some MPs who called me when the trailer was out. What they said was that, they have always raised concerns in the past, but there was no evidence, but this is the basis to proceed with,” he added.
Mr. Awuni, hopes that all measures will be adopted to make sure there’s transparency in how children are selected into schools of various categories.
“So, I hope that all these discussions and the anger from certain quarters that have greeted this work will ensure that going forward, we cannot eliminate the problem completely. There will always be bad people, but at least, it should be reduced to the barest minimum, so that integrity and also transparency will guide how children get selected into Senior High Schools across the country.”
Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) is an automated merit-based computerized system which has replaced the laborious Manual System of Selection and Placement (MSSP) of qualified BECE candidates into second cycle (Senior High Schools and Technical/Vocational) institutions in Ghana.
