Government Communications Team Member and Director of the National Service Authority, Nat Tetteh, said the figures reflect a wider imbalance in the distribution of demand across the different categories of senior high schools.
More than 313,000 students who selected Category A senior high schools (SHSs) as their first choice are competing for just 76,417 available places, highlighting the intense pressure on some of the country’s most sought-after schools.
Speaking to Isaac Addae on Morning Starr on Starr FM, Mr Tetteh said Category A schools had reported vacancies for 76,417 students, despite more than 313,000 applicants selecting them as their first choice.
“Category A schools this year had told us that they had vacancies for 76,417 students, all of the Category A schools put together,” he said.
He said the situation is even more striking when compared with the number of available spaces in Category B and C schools.
“Category B had a little over 250,000 vacancies. And it would interest you to know that Category C schools had over 468,000 vacancies,” he said.
According to Mr Tetteh, the figures demonstrate that the challenge is not necessarily a lack of places across the senior high school system, but the overwhelming preference for a relatively small number of Category A schools.
He said more than 313,000 students chose Category A schools as their first choice out of the over 600,000 students who registered.
“The number of people who applied or who chose a Category A school as their first choice is over 313,000 out of the over 600,000 who registered,” he said.
Mr Tetteh attributed the high demand for Category A schools to the perception that they are better-performing institutions, leading many parents to overlook schools in Categories B and C.
He said the situation raises questions about the current categorisation of senior high schools and whether it contributes to the intense competition for a limited number of places.
“Maybe we need to re-look at the whole nomenclature around saying that, oh, this school is category A, category B, category C,” he said.
Mr Tetteh argued that once schools are divided into such categories, parents naturally gravitate towards those perceived to be the best-performing.
He cited schools such as PRESEC and Mfantsipim as examples of institutions that continue to attract significant interest from parents, while other schools with available capacity are overlooked.
He also questioned why some highly resourced STEM schools established under the previous NPP administration remain classified as Category C.
“I’m aware that even the supposed STEM schools that were set up under the NPP government, which are highly resourced to undertake the sciences and the mathematics, and so they have all the necessary resources to be able to equip students to do well. Even these ones are still categorized as Category C,” he said.
Mr Tetteh said the current situation highlights the need for a broader conversation about how senior high schools are categorised and how parents and students make choices during the placement process.
“Adequately resourcing schools across the various categories could help reduce the intense competition for a limited number of Category A places and ensure that students have more viable options during placement”. He said.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/Pamela Quayson
