Mass exodus hits Category C and D schools as heads scout for students at Kumasi centre

Authorities of “Category C and D” senior high schools in the Ashanti Region have besieged the Kumasi CSSPS Resolution Centre in search of students to fill vacancies in their schools.

This follows the mass exodus of first-year students placed in their schools through the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

According to the school heads, a majority of the students placed in their institutions have since changed their placements to other schools.

They explained that most of the affected prospective students believe their grades are better than the schools they were placed in, and are therefore seeking transfers to their preferred or sought-after schools.

They explained that the situation has compelled them to camp at the resolution centre to convince stranded students and parents to choose their schools; otherwise, they risk recording very low enrollment this academic year.

Speaking in an interview at the centre, the Headmaster of Mansoman Senior High School, Rev. Nicholas Adu Berko, disclosed that although about 800 prospective students were initially placed in his school after the release of the placements, only 18 had reported for admission as of Wednesday.

He bemoaned that students with good grades, particularly those with single-digit aggregates, are the ones constantly disappearing from the school’s enrollment portal.

“When we check the system, the students with grade 6 keep disappearing. It means they are changing their schools for the so-called better ones,” Rev. Berko lamented.

He attributed the development to the operations of the resolution centre, arguing that the centre is being used to facilitate school changes instead of its core mandate.

According to him, the resolution centre should have been limited to resolving genuine technical challenges, such as gender mismatches, pending placements, and errors in biodata, and not to allow outright change of schools that candidates had voluntarily selected.

“If the trend continues, less endowed schools will struggle to get students, while the self-placement and school-changing module defeats the equity principle behind the CSSPS”.

Rev. Berko therefore called for the dissolution of the resolution centre system, insisting that its current operations are doing more harm than good to “less-endowed” schools.

According to him, prospective students with genuine issues should be directed to seek assistance directly from the Ghana Education Service (GES) instead of through the resolution centres.

He further called for the cancellation of the categorization of Senior High Schools into A, B, C, and D, arguing that the system has created a misconception that schools in the lower categories are inferior.

He said the categorization has fueled the rush for Category A schools, leading to the mass change of placements and leaving schools like his struggling to get students, despite having adequate infrastructure and qualified teachers.

Rev. Berko noted that the categorization system has created an artificial hierarchy that influences students and parents to look down on schools in the lower categories, even when such schools are well-resourced and capable of delivering quality education.

“Although my school is classified as Category C, we have adequate infrastructure and qualified teachers just like the Category A and B schools, yet we are struggling to get students. This is largely due to the misconception that Category C schools are inferior,” he lamented.

Meanwhile, pressure at the Kumasi Resolution Centre at the Kumasi Technical Institute (KTI) has eased compared to previous days, although only one military officer was deployed to maintain order at the facility on day four of the exercise.

Parents and students who spoke to this reporter called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to clarify the mandate of the resolution centres to ensure fairness in the placement process.