Former inmate not denied SHS admission because he’s an ex-convict – Prisons Service

The Ashanti Regional Prisons Command has described as false reports that a former inmate of the Kumasi Central Prisons has been denied admission by three Senior High Schools in the Upper East Region because he is an ex-convict.

The Command said the student, Abu Sufiano Yahaya, who wrote his Basic Education Certificate Examination in 2019, was not registered in the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) to be placed in a Senior High School the following year as he was still in prison.

After his release in 2021, he wanted to be manually admitted but the various headmasters of the schools he applied to were under no obligation to admit him since he was not placed there by CSSPS.

“He is a 2019 BECE candidate who had aggregate 16 but prior to his release in 2021, there was no way he could be placed through the Computerized Placement System. When he was qualified to be placed in 2020, he was still an inmate of the Kumasi Central Prisons. He was released in 2021, so there was no way the Computerized School Placement System could place him,” DSP Richard Bukari, the Public Relations Officer of the Kumasi Central Prisons said.

He added that Abu Sufiano Yahaya has since been admitted to Awe Senior High Technical School in Navrongo after the intervention of the Ghana Prisons Service and the Ghana Education Service.

“We have not left him to his fate. Adequate steps have been taken and an agreement has been reached in totality with GES to appropriately place Yahyah… He will be attending Awe Secondary School in Navrongo where he currently resides,” DSP Bukari said.

Meanwhile, DSP Bukari has appealed to the Ghana Education Service to help it further improve the educational facilities in prisons and also help to ensure that the challenges around Senior High School admission of inmates are addressed.

“[We need to] put measures in place to forestall any such occurrences with regards to getting admissions for our products,” he said, adding that the Prisons Service must be credited for the good academic performance of inmates.

Abu Sufiano Yahaya had told Crime Check Ghana last week that his attempts to get admission in three schools were unsuccessful because he was an ex-convict.

“All the schools I tried to get admission to asked me to go back to my former school for a recommendation letter before they can admit me. The Awe SHS headteacher after reading the recommendation from the Kumasi Central Prison where I wrote my BECE, told me unless I go to the Ghana Education Service head office in Accra he wouldn't be in the position to admit me,” he said.

---citinewsroom