NAPO calls for improved systems to address SHS placement concerns

Former Education Minister and 2024 Running Mate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP), Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh, has called for improvements in Ghana’s second-cycle education placement system to address concerns confronting families.

The former Minister, Known affectionately as NAPO, said the implementation of the Free Senior High School (SHS) policy removed a major financial barrier to secondary education for many families.

However, he acknowledged that the expansion of the programme had also placed pressure on classrooms, teachers, financing, infrastructure and the placement system.

“That experience taught me that reform must keep improving as new pressures emerge,” Dr Opoku Prempeh said in a social media post on Saturday, September 12.

He made the comment when marking nine years since the implementation of the Free SHS policy, which was introduced in September 2017 under the Akufo-Addo administration.

Dr Opoku Prempeh, who served as Education Minister at the time, said the current concerns surrounding the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) should be viewed as a systems challenge rather than an isolated problem.

According to him, better data, clearer rules, stronger digital support and faster resolution mechanisms could improve the placement process for families.

“Free SHS opened the door. The next task is to make sure education leads somewhere,” he said.