Blows And Fainting As SHS Placement Explodes Into Nationwide Chaos.

– As Protocol Admissions Hijack Computer Systems

Underhand dealing at the Ghana Education Service (GES) masked as “Protocol Admission” of students into Senior High Schools has derailed the computerised admission system across the country resulting in tens of thousands of stranded students whose confirmed admissions have curiously changed overnight.

Protocol admissions usually involve given top priority to some well-connected individuals to the detriment of the entire other qualified students. This system was in full operation when secondary school admissions were done manually.

However, the GES promised that the protocol admission system would be eradicated by the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS). This has been mostly mere talk as the evidence shows that students from well-connected families often get the upper hand even in the CSSPS system.

Since late last week, less fortunate students and parents have been massing up at various placement centres amidst gruesome conditions. On Monday, September 16, 2019, at least stranded students collapsed after standing several hours in the scorching sun at the Independence square to resolve their placement confusion.

 Amateur videos seen by Whatsup News shows two young ladies being frantically revived with buckets of cold water after they have collapsed.

On the Campus of Mfantsipim Senior High School in the Central region parents and school authorities were practically involved in fisticuffs with parents and new students as the school tried to turn away new students whose admissions have been confirmed in the school.

Schools resume this week but a number of those who qualified could not be placed by the CSSPS and have been forced to reapply manually at designated centres in what the GES calls “Self-Placement”.

The GES has offered a number of curious excuses for the confusion.

One such excuse was given by the GES deputy Director-General Dr. Kwabena Tandoh who laid the blame squarely on the doorsteps of some faceless saboteurs. “We need to understand that we are living in a world now where there are a lot of people with very bad intention and so people with really bad intention are trying to do whatever they can to sabotage our system,” he said in interviews monitored by Whatsup News.

Officially, however, the GES gave an important clue on the potentially viable reason for the catastrophic placement racket.

The GES on September 12, 2019, issued a statement apologising profusely for the confusion in the self-placement module and decided to suspend protocol admission “The Management of  GES wishes to also state that Protocol Admissions have been suspended,” states the innocuous clue given in the statement signed by Casandra Twum Ampofo, the GES Head of Public Relations Unit.

The latest development in SHS admission adds further ammunition to critics who have questioned the Akufo Addo administration’s preparedness for its top-priority free SHS policy.