For the records, the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service (GES), and the CSSPS have at no point stated that 54,000 students did not qualify to access Senior High School education.
What was communicated clearly and without ambiguity is that 54,985 students did not qualify for automatic placement because they scored Grade 9 in English Language or Mathematics, or both. This requirement has been part of the Free SHS policy since its inception.
To put the conversation in proper context, let us look at the trend:
- In 2022, 187,542 students did not qualify for automatic placement and had to do self-placement.
- In 2023, 108,025 students did not qualify for automatic placement.
- In 2024, 115,646 students did not qualify for automatic placement.
- In 2025/2026, only 54,985 students did not qualify for automatic placement.
The data speaks for itself. From over 187,000 in 2022 to 54,985 today, this represents a more than 50% reduction in the number of students outside the automatic placement bracket. Any objective analysis will admit this is a significant improvement in learning outcomes and placement efficiency by this Ministry and GES, and it deserves commendation, not condemnation.
It is therefore misleading for Kwasi Kwarteng and the NPP to go on a misinformation drive suggesting that students have been denied SHS education. Ghanaians in 2026 are discerning and cannot be swayed by propaganda.
The public must understand that the BECE is fundamentally a placement examination, not a barrier examination. It does not determine whether a child qualifies for SHS; it determines where the child will be placed.
This is why at the GES Headquarters today, Junior High School and Senior High School have been merged under one Secondary Education Division. The message is clear: secondary education is a right, not a privilege. No assessment can be used to deny a child that right.
Hence, the only distinction the CSSPS makes is between those who qualify for automatic placement and those who must go through self-placement because qualification for SHS itself is already guaranteed.
And even if we were to entertain the NPP’s narrative for a moment – that the 54,000 students did not qualify and government had no intention to place them — the facts still favour this government.
Ghanaians expressed concern, and the government listened and acted on those concerns by ensuring all students are placed through self-placement.
Read more on self-placement if you miss the automatic placement.
That is the mark of a responsive government. We are coming from an administration that insulted, gaslighted, victimized, and even transferred or dismissed public workers for holding a different view. If this government instead welcomes, listens to, and integrates opposing views into its policy, then it is demonstrably a far better administration than the one Ghanaians voted out.
This article is based on an opinion shared by Daniel Fenyi on his Facebook page. The claims and views expressed in the original commentary are attributed to him and have not been independently verified by HeraldGH
