The Ghana Education Service says it is preparing to release placement of Junior School leavers into the various Senior High/Technical Schools across the country for the 2020/2021 academic year.
According to a statement signed by Head of Public Relations Unit of the GES, Cassandra Twum Ampofo, preparations are underway for the placements to be released in due course.
Assuring the general public of its commitment to ensure a smooth and merit-based placement processes in line with established guidelines, the GES called on parents, prospective SHS students and the general public to cooperate with it fully so as to ensure that every qualified student is successfully placed.
“Management of the Ghana Education Service (GES) wishes to announce that preparations are ongoing for the release of Senior High School placement for the 2020/2021 academic year. We wish to assure parents, guardians, candidates and the general public that GES remain committed to ensuring a smooth, merit-based SHS placement process under established guidelines and looks forward for their full cooperation in this regard,” it said in the statement.
The service also cautioned the public to be wary of the activities of rogue news portals and sites in the name of GES and rather follow its official website and social media handles for credible information.
“Management also advises the general public to beware of fake news portals and rather follow official GES social media handles on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the website for credible information,” it added.
This comes after President Akufo-Addo announced the reopening of schools in his 21st address to the nation on new measures taken to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. The president had indicated that although students of all other levels of education would be resuming school in January, SHS 1 students who are yet to be placed would report to school on March 10, 2021 together with the Gold Track of SHS 2.
The placement of students into SHSs which usually takes place in September to the beginning of October has been delayed due to the Covid-19 induced restrictions that led to the closure of schools in March 2020. President Akufo-Addo, as part of measures to contain the spread of the virus, closed schools last year and directed the GES to resort to virtual means to ensure that student’s education was not truncated.
Later, on May 31, 2020, the president eased the restrictions paving way for all final year students including JHS to return to school to prepare for their exit examination. The date for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) was then revised from June to September so as to give final year JHS students enough room to prepare for the final exams.
