424,092 to enjoy free SHS

It has now been established that 424,092 students have qualified to be placed in the various Senior High School (SHS) as well as Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) schools under the Ghana Education Service (GES) across the country.

They constitute the first batch of students to enjoy the Free SHS policy introduced by the NPP government as one of its flagship policies.

Under the programme, first-year students who qualified to senior high schools will not be charged admission, library, science centre, computer laboratory, examination, and utility fees, among others.

A total of 267, 327 students have already been placed in various SHSs and TVETs under the Computerised School Selection Placement Systems (CSSPS) as they secured places in their schools of choice.

According to the GES, the remaining 150, 770 candidates could not be placed in a school of their choice, and have, therefore, been given a second chance of choosing schools for them to be placed.

Candidates now have up to Tuesday, September 5, 2017, to complete the placement.

The extended date will make room for the candidates to conclude the process.

GES has given the assurance that all students who did not record grade 9 (fail) in English and Mathematics would be placed, and automatically benefit from Free SHS. 36,849 candidates will not be placed because they failed Maths and English.

A total of 36,849 Junior High School (JHS) students who sat this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) will not make it to SHS/TVET.

The GES explained that the students, who represent 8 percent of the total number of students who took the exam, scored Grade 9 (fail) in either English Language or Mathematics.

However, all is not lost because such determined students can re-sit the BECE exam for the private candidates to improve their grades in English and Maths, and when successful enroll into SHS next academic year.