Parents urged to prioritise school choices before subjects

Parents have been advised to prioritise selecting suitable Senior High Schools for their wards before considering subject combinations during placement.  

The advice comes as parents across the Volta Region troop to various Junior High Schools to assist their wards in making selections for the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).  

In the Volta Region, Mawuli School, OLA Senior High School, Bishop Herman College, Anlo Senior High Technical School and Kpando Technical Institute are among the Category A institutions, making them highly sought-after choices.  

Mr Silvester Akubia, Headteacher of a school in the Ho West District, told the Ghana News Agency that parents should concentrate on the school and programme before worrying about specific subject combinations.  

“The most important thing is the course that the person will offer. The subject combination should not be the first consideration during the selection process,” he said.  

He explained that parents should first identify at least eight preferred schools before visiting the JHS, adding that the current selection required candidates to choose five boarding schools and three-day schools.  

“You must have those schools in mind or write them down before you go to the school. The selection is eight schools, so you must have at least eight schools in mind,” Mr Akubia said.  

Mr Johannes Ekpe-Asrevi, Headteacher of Have EP Basic School in the Afadzato South District, said parents were not compelled to follow a particular distribution of Category A, B and C schools, provided the required number of boarding and day choices was maintained.  

“Somebody can decide to pick one from Category A, three from Category B and five from Category C. It does not matter, but you must make sure that you have five boarding schools and three-day schools,” he said.  

Mr Ekpe-Asrevi also advised parents to print their wards’ results and examine their grades before making selections, explaining that the competitiveness of boarding placement could depend on candidates’ academic performance and the number of applicants choosing a particular school.  

“The school you are taking as your fifth choice may be the same school somebody is taking as the first choice, so the grades and the order of choice can become important,” he added. –GNA