Every year, it is the same story. But this year, 2026, is worse.
The Computerized School Selection and Placement System — CSSPS — was supposed to end the era of “who you know” in Ghana’s education. It was supposed to be fair, transparent, merit-based. A computer, not a man, placing our children.
But ask any parent who has been at GNAT Hall this week, ask any JHS graduate crying by the roadside with a placement slip in hand, and they will tell you: CSSPS has become Computerized School Selling Placement System.
The complaints are many, and they are serious:
1. PLACEMENT SLIPS THAT CHANGE OVERNIGHT
Students print their placement, it says PRESEC Legon or Wesley Girls. They go to bed happy. They wake up, they check the portal again, it says Akwamuman SHS or a school they never chose. They have two slips, both with CSSPS logo, both with barcodes.
The Ministry of Education, in a statement signed by Press Secretary Hashmin Mohammed on September 9, says these are “fake and digitally altered” slips, that barcodes don’t match, that system logs show no changes, and that the matter has been referred to Cyber Security Authority. 3f82
But parents are asking: If they are fake, who is faking them and why does the fake one look exactly like the real one? If a parent can alter a barcode and QR code, what is the security of the CSSPS itself?
You cannot dismiss every complaint as fake. When hundreds of parents are at GNAT Hall for resolution, that is not Photoshop. That is pain.
2. THE OLD GHOST: BRIBERY
It is the open secret every Ghanaian knows. Placement is free, the Ministry says. But behind the scenes, money moves.
Years ago, PRO Kwasi Kwarteng warned: “We’ll prosecute you if you take bribe”. Deputy Minister Dr. Apaak said the Ministry was working with National Security to track people who claim placement is for sale. 3d91c486
Yet every year, parents allege they are asked to pay GHS 2,000, GHS 5,000 to get Achimota, Mfantsiman, Opoku Ware. Those who cannot pay are dumped in schools they never selected, far from home, offering courses they never chose.
In 2025, Africa Education Watch Executive Director Kofi Asare warned that parents see placement as a right, but it is a merit-based competition. True. But merit means nothing if a child with aggregate 8 who chose Science at PRESEC is placed in Visual Arts at a Category D school, while a child with aggregate 18 gets his choice because his uncle works at the Ministry. 20ca
That is not merit. That is dubious.
3. THE SYSTEM HAS NO HUMAN FACE
A 14-year-old boy from Bawku with aggregate 9 wants to go to Bolga Technical. He is placed in a school in Ekwamkrom in Central Region, 700km away. No transport, no dormitory. How does he go?
A girl with sickle cell who chose day schools in Accra because of her health is placed as boarding in Upper West.
The computer does not know compassion. And the resolution center at GNAT Hall — where parents have queued since 6am in the rain — is overwhelmed. One official, one laptop, 500 parents shouting.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH — LET THE HEADS ROLL
Ghana cannot continue this way. Free SHS was meant to give every child hope. CSSPS is killing that hope every September.
If placement slips are being faked, who is faking them? Is it insiders? Is it hackers? The Cyber Security Authority must not just investigate parents who share slips, they must audit the CSSPS Secretariat itself.
If there is bribery, heads must roll. Not transfer. Not warning. Dismissal and prosecution. Publish names. How many CSSPS officials have been prosecuted since 2020 when the Minister said “We’ll prosecute you”? Zero.
If the system changes placements overnight, the Director of CSSPS, the IT vendor who built the portal, and the officials who manage audit logs must explain to Parliament.
The Ministry cannot just issue a press release saying “it is fake” and go to sleep. Parents are not fools. They have the two slips. They have the screenshots. 4b87
President Mahama’s government promised transparency and accountability. The 2026 placement is the first test.
We need:
1. An independent audit of CSSPS source code and placement logs for 2026 by an independent firm, not Ministry IT.
2. Live publication of cut-off aggregates for all Category A, B, C schools.
3. A real-time portal where a parent can see WHY their child was placed where.
4. Arrests, not warnings, for anyone taking money for placement.
CSSPS was supposed to place children in schools, not place parents in debt and despair.
This year’s placement is not just a technical glitch. It is a national scandal. And until heads roll at CSSPS Secretariat, from the top to the bottom, Ghanaians will never believe placement is free, fair, and computerized.
It is computerized alright. But who is controlling the computer?
Alexander Afriyie, supervising editor, ghanacrimereport.com and ghanatalk.com