MoE adds ‘cluster of schools’ to 2022/23 school placement

The Ministry of Education as part of the school selection process has included a ‘cluster of schools’ feature to ease pressure on Category A Senior High Schools during school placement, a deputy spokesman for the Ministry has said.

In a discussion monitored by AcademicWeek, Yaw Opoku Mensah said the cluster of schools are similar schools that belong to the same category which candidates may comfortably accept as alternative schools to their initial choices.

“This year as part of the selection of school process, the Ministry of Education and Ghana Education Service has added a cluster of schools to ease pressure on Category A Senior High Schools mostly preferred by students,” he stated.

GES 2022/2023 BECE schools selection guidelines

A. Updates Added

Introduction of a cluster of schools: These are similar schools that belong to the same category which candidates may comfortably accept as alternative schools to their initial choices.

“A Candidate who opts for a cluster and is displaced may have the opportunity of being considered in any of the schools within the cluster. For instance, if candidate Yaw selected Ghana National college as his 2nd choice, the candidate will be considered for similar schools in the cluster of Ghana National College for available space.”

B. Grouping of Schools

All second-cycle institutions have been grouped as follows:

I. Public second Cycle Institution: Four (4) groups namely Categories A, B, C and D.

II. Appendix 1: contains detailed technical institutions (TI) programmes

III. Appendix 2: contains detailed subjects of the Technical Programmes in the Sec/Tech. institutions

IV. Appendix 4: contains Special Boarding schools for the sixth (6th) Choice)

V. Appendix 4: Cluster of schools

VI. Appendix 5: contains a list of Special Education Needs (SEN) schools

VII. Sample Choice: Examples of correct and wrong choices

C. Before the Selection of Schools and Programmes

Before the Selection of Schools and Programmes offered, parents/guardians are advised to note that all schools selected

(1st–6th) are considered in the placement of candidates.

D. Conditions for selection of schools

Candidates with guidance from parents/guardians and school authorities;

a) Must choose Six(6) schools(1st – 6th choices) in all.

b) Must select programmes and accommodations for each selected school.

c) Must choose a compulsory day as 6th choice (Catchment Area School) or choose boarding school from the list of schools in Appendix 3

d) Must indicate ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to accept or decline to opt for a cluster.

e) Candidates who wish to offer purely TVET Programmes must select all six (6) TVETS schools from CATEGORY A, B and C as Day or Boarding

f)  Cannot choose more than one (1) School from Category A

g) Cannot select more than two (2) schools from Category B

h) May select five (5) choices from Category C and One (1) from Category D (Day) or Appendix 3 (Special Boarding).

A total number of 552,276 candidates representing 276,988 males and 275,288 from 18,501 Junior High Schools registered to participate in the 32nd edition of BECE for School Candidates at 2,023 centres throughout the country.