The Education Ministry has explained why thousands of candidates who selected Category A senior high schools as their first choice were unable to secure placement in those institutions under the 2026 Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
According to the Ministry, the main challenge was not a lack of senior high school vacancies nationwide but the intense competition for a relatively small number of places in the country’s most sought-after Category A schools.
Press Secretary to the Minister for Education, Hashmin Mohammed, said 313,283 candidates selected Category A schools as their first choice, while schools in that category declared only 76,417 vacancies.
Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Monday, September 7, 2026, Mohammed said the figures showed just how heavily oversubscribed Category A schools had become.
“The system, the CSSPS system declared a vacancy of 859,828. So if you look at the vacancy in the system, it is even far more than the number of candidates who sat for the exams,” he said.
He explained that although there were hundreds of thousands of vacancies across the country, demand was concentrated around a smaller group of highly preferred schools.
Schools such as Achimota School and Presbyterian Boys’ Secondary School (Presec), for instance, continued to attract exceptionally high numbers of candidates.
“The declared vacancy by the heads of the schools starts at 76,417 as against the number of students who showed interest in Category A schools this year alone, which is 313,283,” Mohammed said.
Candidates who could not secure their first-choice schools were therefore considered for the other choices they submitted during the selection exercise.
Depending on availability and whether they met the requirements for the particular school and programme, candidates could subsequently be placed in their second, third, fourth or fifth choices.
“So, when you are faced with that challenge, of course, some students will not be able to be placed in their preferred school,” Mohammed explained.
The Ministry also rejected concerns that some candidates were randomly assigned to schools they never selected.
Mohammed said the selection process was expanded this year to allow candidates to choose up to eight schools, giving the CSSPS more alternatives when a candidate could not secure a preferred institution.
“It is impossible for you to pass and then you will be allocated into a school you haven’t chosen because that’s why we expanded the choices,” he said.
He urged parents and candidates who believe they have been placed in an unfamiliar school to first check the choices originally submitted during the selection process before concluding that the system made an error.
The Ministry has also confirmed that candidates who obtained a score of nine in either English Language or Mathematics qualify to use the self-placement system.
The self-placement portal has been opened to eligible candidates who were not automatically matched, allowing them to choose from schools and programmes with available vacancies.
The 2026 CSSPS results were released on September 4, with 527,932 candidates successfully placed out of 604,567 qualified candidates, representing an 87.3 per cent placement rate.
Category A schools recorded the highest demand, with 313,283 candidates choosing them as their first option. Category B schools had 176,614 first-choice selections, while 123,577 candidates selected Category C schools.
The vacancy figures further highlight the disparity between demand and available spaces in the different categories. Category A schools declared 76,417 vacancies, compared with 250,366 in Category B schools and 468,652 in Category C schools.
To deal with complaints and difficulties arising from the placement exercise, the Education Ministry has established placement resolution centres at both the regional and national levels.
The centres are expected to assist parents and candidates with placement concerns, while the self-placement system provides another opportunity for eligible candidates who were not automatically matched to secure a school with available space.
