The Ministry of Education has clarified that students who failed one or two core subjects in the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) have not been automatically excluded from progressing to senior high school.
Spokesperson for the Ministry, Hashmin Mohammed, said there is no government policy requiring candidates to be removed from the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) solely because they failed one or two core subjects.
“We do not have a policy that says that if you fail one or two course subjects, you should be removed. We do not; such a policy does not exist,” he said.
His comments come amid concerns over about 55,000 BECE candidates who were unable to secure placement through the CSSPS following the release of the 2026 examination results.
According to Mr Mohammed, the students who failed one or two core subjects were flagged by the placement system primarily to help the Ministry collect data on their academic performance.
He explained that being flagged should not be interpreted as a final decision to deny the affected students admission to senior high school.
“We are saying that education, secondary education, is a right, but not a privilege. We need to give them a path,” he said.
The Ministry says affected students will have a number of options to enable them to continue their education.
These include self-placement into schools with available vacancies, as well as participation in a remedial programme designed to help students improve in subjects they did not pass.
Parents and candidates may also opt for the affected students to re-sit the BECE.
Mr Mohammed said the government was deliberately exploring alternative pathways rather than leaving the students without an opportunity to continue their education.
“We do not want to throw this group of students into the [streets] because its national security implications are going to be very, very high,” he said.
He added that the Ministry intends to monitor the academic progress of students who are admitted through the alternative pathway.
Particular attention, he said, will be paid to how the students perform in the subjects they previously failed.
The clarification is expected to ease concerns among parents and candidates who had interpreted the large number of students flagged by the CSSPS as an indication that they had been permanently denied admission to senior high school.
The Ministry maintains that the objective is to provide the affected candidates with a viable pathway to continue their education while also using their academic performance data to inform future education policy.
