‘Placement for sale’ exposé makes nonsense of CSSPS – Clement Apaak
The Deputy Ranking Member of Parliament’s education committee, Dr Clement Apaak is worried about the state of the infraction surrounding the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS)
He said that the outcome of the ‘Placement for Sale’ exposé into the placement defies the reasons for which the CSSPS was instituted.
Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show, Dr. Apaak, expressed that the fraudulent school placement activity takes away equity which the CSSPS was supposed to ensure.
“From what I’ve seen so far, I think what has been uncovered makes nonsense of the CSSPS. The reason why Ghana has to invest colossal amounts of money into an artificial system of placing students in Senior High Schools after their completion of Junior High Schools, was to take away the human element, to take away bias and to show fairness and equity,” he said.
The Builsa South MP expressed that the human element in the school placement system generates the usual ‘protocol’ culture which then eliminates placement based on merits and introduces placement based on payment.
The legislator argued that the canker which has been revealed should be blamed on the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum and the Ministry itself as well as the Director General, saying that they oversee the happenings within the Ghana Education Service (GES).
Explaining further, he is of the view that, the Minister cannot “feign innocence” in the wake of the revelations because the Minister and the director general are the only people who have “unfettered” access regarding school placement.
He speculated that the outcome of the investigation indicates that the menace is one that has been institutionalised. Therefore, the office of the special prosecutor or the Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) should take up the issue.
According to him, the Minister of Education should have been championing the fight against the fraudulent system should he have nothing to do with it.
Dr. Apaak expressed worry that the education system is being compromised like other institutions, citing the police service, immigration and the army.
A JoyNews documentary has revealed that the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) of students to Senior High Schools has been compromised in that it is no more based on merits but on payment of huge sums of monies to warrant admission into desired schools, especially grade A and B schools.
The documentary revealed that 10% of slots are usually reserved for protocol placements.
Students who wish to be placed into their desired schools even when they are not qualified are able to secure same by paying at least 7,000 cedis to inside men.
In some cases, people pay as much as 10,000 cedis to maintain a slot, according to the investigative documentary.
Some have argued that the practice has been in the system for a very long period time, only that it is just now being revealed because the payments are becoming outrageous
Myjoyonline.com
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