Parents and other relevant stakeholders have called for an extension of the reporting date, citing various reasons, but the Ghana Education Service (GES) insisted on the December 4 date.

Parliament also called on the Minister of Education to consider rescheduling the reopening date to the first week of January instead of Monday, December 4.

The Parliamentary Service in a statement noted that, “due to the short notice with its attendant inconvenience to students, parents, teaching, and non-teaching staff, the House proposes for the consideration of the Hon. Minister of Education the first week of January 2024 as a more convenient and appropriate time for parents, students, and teachers to adequately prepare for academic work.”

Parliament’s plea was, however, turned down by the GES. GES in a statement noted that “it is the expectation of management that schools begin registration and orientation of students from the 4th of December 2023.”

585,797 out of a total of 598,839 candidates were placed in various Senior High Schools and Technical and Vocational Education and Training Schools (TVET) across the country through the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).

The Deputy Spokesperson of the Educational Ministry, Yaw Opoku Mensah, in a Citi News interview, urged parents facing placement challenges to visit some dedicated centres across the country to have those resolved.

“It has been a system by the Ghana Education Service and that of the Ministry of Education that any time you release placement outcome, definitely students will come with a lot of issues, change of status. So once you have such a challenge, then you can walk to the national office at Adabraka and all the 16 administrative regions; we also have it over there. We also have a command centre that works 24/7,” he said.