By Amoako Kwame
The Ministry of Education has confirmed that the 2026/2027 Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) results will be released on Friday, September 4, 2026, following an extension granted to allow thousands of qualified candidates to complete the submission of their school-selection data.
The Ministry had initially scheduled the release for Monday, August 31, but postponed it after identifying a significant number of candidates whose information had not been uploaded onto the relevant platforms.
Speaking on the Joy FM Super Morning Show on Thursday, September 3, Press Secretary and Spokesperson for the Ministry of Education, Hashmin Mohammed, assured parents, guardians and candidates that the placement process had now been completed and the results were ready for publication.
“We are set to release the placement results tomorrow [Friday],” he said.
About 18,000 candidates complete data submission
Mr Mohammed explained that the decision to delay the release was necessitated by the large number of qualified candidates who had initially been unable to upload their information onto the CSSPS platform.
He said approximately 20,000 candidates were affected when the Ministry decided to extend the deadline.
The extension, according to him, was intended to ensure that candidates who had met the requirements for placement were not excluded simply because of difficulties with the data-upload process.
“When we thought we could release it as of last week, unfortunately, we had some students who were unable to load their data into the CSSPS system. And then, looking at the number, the number was huge,” he explained.
Mr Mohammed said the Ministry considered the extension necessary in keeping with its commitment to equity and fairness in the placement exercise.
“If we are operating on an equity-based system, we needed to offer them the opportunity to extend the date so that they would be able to upload their data into the system for them to be placed into a school,” he said.
He added that the Ministry’s position was that every qualified candidate should have a meaningful opportunity to secure placement in a second-cycle institution.
“One of the requirements is that once you are qualified, you need to be placed into a school,” he said.
18,000 candidates have now completed the process
According to Mr Mohammed, the extension has largely addressed the problem.
He disclosed that approximately 18,000 of the 20,000 affected candidates have now successfully entered their data into the system.
“As I am speaking to you now, we’ve had about 18,000 who have inputted their data into the system,” he said.
The remaining approximately 2,000 candidates, he explained, are students from special-needs schools whose placement process differs from that of other candidates.
“The remaining 2,000, we know where they are. They are the special needs schools. And special needs schools, they don’t need to go through the choice confirmation,” he explained.
Rather than requiring those candidates to go through the standard school-choice confirmation process, Mr Mohammed said the schools submit their lists to the Ministry, after which the candidates are manually placed because their institutions have already been identified.
“Their schools only give us the list, and then we place them manually into the system because their schools are already defined,” he said.
What the CSSPS does
The CSSPS is the national system used to match qualified candidates who complete the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) with Senior High Schools (SHSs) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions.
The system takes into account factors including candidates’ academic performance, programme preferences and available vacancies.
For candidates who are not placed in any of their selected schools, the CSSPS provides a self-placement option, allowing them to select from schools and programmes with available vacancies. The Ghana Education Service’s placement guidance explains that available schools are displayed according to vacancies, aggregate and residential options.
The official CSSPS portal currently provides separate services for checking placement, self-placement, choice confirmation, editing choices, re-entry and foreign-student placement.
2026/2027 exercise sees changes in school selection
The 2026/2027 placement exercise has also introduced changes to the school-selection process.
Reports on the revised arrangements indicate that candidates are able to review their BECE results before making their final school selections, rather than selecting schools before knowing their examination performance, as was previously the practice.
Candidates are also required to select eight schools, compared with seven under the previous arrangement. The new selection structure includes requirements relating to Category A schools and day-school options within candidates’ districts.
The changes are part of broader efforts to improve the placement process and reduce some of the difficulties that have characterised the exercise in previous years.
Ministry says delay was to protect eligible candidates
The Ministry’s earlier announcement on August 30 confirmed that the placement results had been moved from August 31 to September 4 after requests from parents, guardians, students and heads of schools for additional time to complete the submission and uploading of student information.
At the time, the Ministry said its data showed that about 20,000 qualified students had not yet had their school choices uploaded onto the CSSPS platform.
The Ministry said the additional time was necessary to ensure that outstanding submissions did not prevent eligible candidates from participating in the placement exercise.
With Mr Mohammed now confirming that the process has been completed, thousands of candidates and their families are expected to begin checking their placement status from Friday.
Candidates who are successfully placed will be able to view their assigned school and programme through the CSSPS platform. Those who are not placed in any of their selected schools can use the self-placement facility to select an institution with available vacancies.
The Ministry has reiterated its commitment to a fair, transparent, efficient and orderly placement process that gives qualified candidates an opportunity to secure placement in an SHS or TVET institution.
