4,432 Free SHS placement complaints filed

Disgruntled parents whose wards recently went through the self-placement process, want their wards’ schools changed.

This is according to the Deputy Coordinator of Free Senior High School (SHS), Nana Afrah Sika Mensah, who is in charge of activities at the GNAT Hall, where complaints concerning school placement are currently being resolved in Accra.

She indicated that most of these disgruntled parents want their wards to be placed in Grade ‘A’ and ‘B’ schools, despite their wards being unqualified for these categories of schools.

She stated that currently the slots in the Grade ‘A’ and ‘B’ schools have all been filled, which explains why placements being done are all for Grade ‘C’ and ‘D’ schools.

Nana Afrah Sika Mensah disclosed that as at last week, they had received about 4,432 complaints.

Out of this figure, some 1,655 were about students who had not been placed into any Senior High School, while about 2,152 people had filed for change of schools.

The Deputy Coordinator of Free SHS added that 119 JHS graduates who had filed their complaint had shown interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) courses, while 302 had shown interest in Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET).

She added that they’ve so far received six complaints regarding gender issues.

“There are people who are females but their slips indicate that they are males and vice versa. Those are the gender issues I’m talking about,” she explained.

She urged parents to calm down as their wards will all be allocated schools.

“Everyone will get a school, I will advise that every parent should relax and wait for the filed complaint to be resolved,” she said.

However, upon The Finder’s arrival at the GNAT Hall there were still large numbers of parents and wards who were visiting the centre for the first time.

Many of these parents and their wards  were dissatisfied with their given schools, while others who did not get any schools were seeking placement.

The Finder identified that there were sub desks available at the premises to resolve specific issues.

It was observed that officials of GES were attending to parents according to their complaints while others were filing their complaints behind their results slip.

A student from Ashaiman, Derrick Ahiakonu, told this paper that he had got aggregate 13  but had been placed in his 5th choice school.

He explained that he was also not given his course of choice – General Science – but had been given General Arts instead.

He said he came to the GNAT Hall to resolve that and also find out if his school could be changed for him since he believes he got a good grade deserving of a better school.

Siblings, Florence and Bernice Lamptey, also said they had chosen Yaa Asantewaa Girls with an aggregate of 12 and 11, respectively.

They stated that their first choice wasn’t given to them but they had got their fourth choice school instead.

They noted that the Ghana Education Service (GES) officials asked that they submit their concerns and wait for their resolution.