Awudu Ishaq, PNC General Secretary, has raised concerns over what he describes as privileged access to Ghana’s school placement system, arguing that such access undermines fairness and creates room for the process to be influenced.
Speaking to Isaac Addae on Morning Starr on Starr FM, Mr Ishaq said the system remains vulnerable to manipulation when people in higher positions are able to intervene in the placement process.
“Computerised means we are trying to remove the human element,” he said.
According to him, the introduction of the Computerised School Selection and Placement System was meant to reduce human interference in the placement of students, but the continued access granted to certain officials defeats that objective.
He questioned what has been achieved if officials with privileged access can still give instructions or influence placements through the system.
“If you go and you create this system and then you give certain privileges to some people in higher positions to be able to manipulate the system and to that extent to do placements, to give instructions for placements on the system. What have you done? Have you gone or have you come?” he asked.
Mr Ishaq said the issue is not limited to one political administration, stressing that concerns over interference in the placement system cut across successive governments.
“This is not exclusive to one regime or to one government,” he said.
He further pointed to the access available to officials within the education system, including Free Senior High School coordinators and the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service.
According to him, such access creates what he described as a continuing human interface in a system that was supposed to minimise human involvement.
He argued that the credibility of the placement process depends on reducing such interventions and ensuring that students are placed strictly according to established criteria.
Mr Ishaq said the country must therefore be willing to confront the issue honestly instead of pretending that the computerised system has completely eliminated opportunities for manipulation.
He maintained that unless human interference is reduced to the barest minimum, concerns about fairness and equal opportunity in school placement will continue to persist.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh/Pamela Quayson
