Former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Charles Aheto Tsegah, has criticised the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), arguing that the system has failed to resolve the fundamental challenges associated with placing Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) graduates into senior high schools (SHSs), technical and vocational education and training (TVET) institutions.
According to Mr Aheto Tsegah, the CSSPS was introduced to address concerns surrounding the manual placement system, particularly allegations of corruption, favouritism and undue influence in the admission process.
However, he believes the computerised system has failed to achieve the objectives for which it was established and has not adequately addressed the key challenges confronting the placement process.
Speaking in an interview monitored by The Ghana Report on Channel One TV on Saturday, September 12, Mr Aheto Tsegah explained that the CSSPS was designed to reduce the discretion previously exercised by headteachers and replace it with a computerised system that would rely on algorithms to make the placement process fairer and more transparent.
He said the decision to introduce the system was largely influenced by widespread suspicion over the conduct of headteachers under the manual placement arrangement.
“If you look at what informed the change to the CSSPS system, there was deep suspicion of the efforts of the headteachers. People impugned corruption and so many things and took the power away from the headteachers and then we were thinking that we were going to use the CSSPS system with all of its algorithms to correct protocol and the whole lot of the side issues that were connected with the placement situation.
“Unfortunately, we have failed. I had the opportunity to call one of the people who led the transition and said we have failed in this whole thing because if we cannot address the key challenge that inspired us to set off to bring in the CSSPS, we have failed and we better go back and give it to the headteachers.”
Mr Aheto Tsegah’s comments come amid recurring concerns over the CSSPS, particularly regarding school placement, student choices and the difficulties some parents and students face during the placement process.
He argued that if the current system is unable to address the challenges that originally necessitated its introduction, authorities should reconsider the approach and explore a system that gives headteachers greater responsibility in the admission process.
