Two individuals have been arrested for allegedly attempting to manipulate school placements for multiple students and engaging in bribery within Ghana’s school placement system.
Dr. Belinda Glover, Deputy National Coordinator of the Free SHS Secretariat, explained that some people have been showing up at placement centres with multiple forms, falsely claiming to be parents, in order to change programmes or alter students’ boarding status.
“So we have been able to arrest some of them. In fact, they come with multiple sheets trying to make changes, either from day to boarding, from boarding to day, or sometimes changing the programme,” she said. “You can’t have more than five children going to secondary school at the same time. Anything beyond two visits suggests someone is here to do business, and we are not ready to accept that.”
Dr. Glover added that the suspects had been collecting money from parents to influence placement changes. “We have handed over about two of them to the police. We follow up on these cases and have realised that some people are just collecting money and using the system to make a profit,” she explained.
The arrests come amid growing concerns about bribery and corruption in the national Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), and investigations are ongoing.
