Member of Parliament for Abuakwa South, Dr Kingsley Agyemang, has described the government’s decision to allow students to select senior high schools after the release of their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results as a “backward approach”.
His comments come amid growing frustration among parents and BECE candidates facing difficulties with the placement process, with large numbers of students reportedly unable to secure places in the schools they selected.
Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on September 7, Dr. Agyemang said the policy had contributed to the difficulties now confronting parents and candidates seeking placements.
“The BECE was quite not impressive; overall performance, where we have the huge number who have not been placed in any of the schools that they selected, is quite a problem,” he said.
He said he had warned that allowing candidates to see their results before selecting schools would lead to a rush for highly competitive Category A institutions.
“I hinted strongly that we were going to get to this position, and truth be told, this is where we are now,” he said.
He argued that the policy would have been more workable in a system where schools were not categorised and all institutions had an equal chance of being selected.
“You do that when you know that you don’t have any categorisation and all schools have an equal chance of being selected,” he said.
Dr Agyemang maintained that the current difficulties were foreseeable and that the government had failed to heed earlier warnings.
“I told them this was the hazard that was going to happen,” he said.
He also criticised the government for failing to heed earlier concerns, saying his warnings about the potential consequences of the policy had been ignored.
Dr Agyemang said the placement challenges had worsened compared with the previous exercise, which he described as chaotic, adding that this year’s situation was even worse.
The Abuakwa South MP called for a review of the school selection and placement process to ensure that students’ choices are better aligned with available vacancies and the categorisation of schools, as parents and candidates continue to seek solutions to the current placement challenges.
