Ghana Education Minister bans manual student admissions outside CSSPS

Ghanaian Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has issued a directive to heads of Senior High Schools, Technical and Vocational Institutes, and Senior High Technical Schools, prohibiting the manual admission of students outside the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

The directive, communicated through the Ghana Education Service and the Ghana TVET Service, warns that school heads found admitting students outside the approved process will face sanctions under applicable regulations and the Code of Ethics. The Ministry noted that previous cycles showed significant discrepancies between system-placed students and actual enrollments, suggesting some institutions were under-declaring vacancies to admit students manually.

Addressing the structural challenges of the system, Iddrisu highlighted a massive mismatch in the 2026 placement exercise, noting that approximately 328,000 students selected Category A schools despite only 76,000 vacancies being available. He also criticized former Education Minister Yaw Osei Adutwum for offering advice on the placement crisis, suggesting the current administration inherited the existing system's limitations.

Strict adherence to the CSSPS is intended to support the World Bank-funded Secondary Education Transformation for Access, Relevance and Results for Jobs (STARR-J) project, which aims to improve teaching and learning infrastructure through accurate enrollment data and budget projections.