The Ministry of Education says it is confident that all outstanding school placement issues affecting parents and Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) graduates will be resolved before Senior High Schools reopens on October 18, 2025.
According to the Ministry, the large crowds of anxious parents and students that initially besieged the national school placement resolution centres have significantly reduced, thanks to measures put in place to fast-track complaint handling.
Speaking during a visit to the main resolution centre at the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) Hall in Accra, the Press Secretary to the Minister of Education, Mr Hasmin Mohammed, said the centre’s operations had been greatly improved through the deployment of additional personnel to attend to complaints promptly.
“We have been able to decongest the crowd because we have deployed a lot of personnel to attend and listen to their issues. You can now attest to the fact that the situation has improved,” he said.
Mr Mohammed noted that the move would enable officials to address outstanding issues more efficiently before the reopening date. He assured parents and students that the Ministry would continue working “with speed and fairness” to ensure that every eligible student is placed and satisfied.
No plan yet to postpone SHS reopening
Responding to questions about whether the reopening date for first-year Senior High School students might be postponed, Mr Mohammed said the Ministry still had adequate time to resolve all remaining challenges before October 18.
“We still have much time, and when there is the need for that, management and higher authorities will take a decision. But for now, we are working within the time frame we have set for ourselves,” he added.
Parents commend swift resolution
Over the past few weeks, many parents and guardians who visited the GNAT Hall have commended the orderly and efficient handling of placement-related concerns. Others, however, have urged the Ministry to enhance communication to prevent misinformation and unnecessary panic.
Mr Mohammed disclosed that more than 5,000 people had visited the centre so far, many of whom expressed relief at the professionalism of staff and the transparency of the placement process.
He reaffirmed that the Ministry’s placement exercise was being conducted in a fair, transparent, and merit-based manner.
Centres operating nationwide
The GNAT Hall centre is one of several school placement resolution centres established across the country on September 18, 2025, to receive and resolve complaints from parents and guardians. These centres, located mainly in regional capitals, are tasked with verifying placement details and providing immediate redress where necessary.
Senior officials of the Ministry, including Dr Clement Apaak, Deputy Minister of Education, have toured some of the centres to assure parents and candidates of government’s commitment to ensuring a smooth transition to Senior High School.
BECE results and Free SHS expansion
A total of 603,328 candidates — comprising 297,520 males and 306,078 females from 20,395 schools — sat for this year’s BECE, which took place from June 11 to 18, 2025.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the provisional results on August 24, cancelling the entire results of 177 candidates and subject results of 718 others for various forms of malpractice. Another 1,240 subject results and 93 entire results were withheld pending further investigation.
Mr Mohammed added that the Mahama administration was committed to expanding and improving the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme introduced in 2017, to ensure that every Ghanaian child has access to quality secondary education supported by adequate infrastructure and teaching resources.
He assured the public that the Ministry was working diligently to ensure that no qualified student was left behind before schools reopen next week.
