Errors in SHS programme selection drop

Errors made by Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates during the selection of programmes in senior high schools (SHSs) have dropped by 5,942 this year.

Last year, the Computerised School Selection and Placement (CSSPS) Secretariat identified 7,600 candidates choosing wrong programmes in certain SHSs. However, the number of such errors has dropped to 1,658 this year.

Also, the errors of male/female mistakenly shading the space for female/male, as well as males choosing female schools and vice versa, have dropped from 315 to 96. 

The National Coordinator of CSSPS, Mr Kwasi Anokye, who made this known to the Junior Graphic, noted that “programme errors are from students who have chosen programmes that are not offered in certain schools. For instance, Business is not offered in Achimota School yet you have candidates choosing the school to study Business programme”.

“Fortunately,” he said, “the secretariat has been able to correct all the programme errors that have been identified and corrected. Officers from the secretariat looked at the other programmes chosen by the candidate and aligned them in that order.” 

In addition to that, he stated, “we go down to the affected candidates’ JHSs to confer with the authorities to provide us with the necessary inputs.”

According to Mr Anokye, every year the secretariat dedicates time to correct the errors which affect the placement of candidates into SHSs.

New and enhanced software features introduced by the secretariat, he said, has helped to find solutions to such problems.

 “When you identify such programmes, you have to go back to the JHS to verify whether indeed a male has chosen an all female school or vice versa because some of the names are not so easy to identify. For instance, Dela or Mawusi is used for both sexes, so when you see such names we go down to the JHS to be sure of the sex of the person.”

The gender error corrections, Mr Anokye said, are expected to be completed this week.