SHS placement: ‘You cannot simply build and label schools Category A’ – Kwasi Kwarteng

A former Public Relations Officer at the Ministry of Education and member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) national communications team, Kwasi Kwarteng, has criticised the government’s plan to build new Category A senior high schools to address pressure on the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

His comments follow Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu’s announcement that the government plans to build 10 new model Category A schools and upgrade 20 existing Category B schools to Category A status.

Reacting to this, Kwarteng said assigning the Category A label to newly constructed schools would not automatically give them the reputation and public confidence enjoyed by established schools such as PRESEC, Achimota, Mfantsipim and Wesley Girls.

“You cannot simply build 10 new schools, label them Category A, and expect parents and students to suddenly treat them like PRESEC, Achimota, Mfantsipim or Wesley Girls,” he said in a social media post on Wednesday, September 16.

He argued that the popularity of existing Category A schools is the result of years of academic performance, quality teaching, facilities, school culture, alumni tradition and public reputation.

Kwarteng said the government’s own figures also point to a preference problem, rather than only a capacity challenge.

The Education Minister has said about 328,000 students selected Category A schools during the 2026 placement exercise, while only about 76,000 vacancies were available in those schools.

The NPP communicator said the figures showed that demand was concentrated in a relatively small number of schools despite vacancies existing elsewhere.

“The problem is not merely that Ghana lacks enough spaces in our SHSs. The real challenge is that demand is heavily concentrated in a relatively small number of preferred schools,” he said.

He therefore called for greater investment in existing Category B and C schools to make them more attractive alternatives to the established Category A institutions.

He said this should include improvements in teaching quality, laboratories, accommodation, learning resources, leadership and academic outcomes.