A Group calling itself, the Volunteer Partnership for West Africa (VPWA), has called on government to compensate first-year Senior High School students who have lost some days of tuition due to late placement.

The volunteer-driven non-governmental organisation (NGO), admonished the government in a statement “to institute remedial measures to make up for the lost contact hours for students who will experience delayed placement”.

This was after VPWA said they have conducted some investigations into the failure to have some students placed and the collapse of some individuals who had gathered at the Independence Square to seek redress on their school placements.

Aggrieved parents and candidates who had challenges with the placement besieged the Accra Solution Centre set up by the Ghana Education Service (GES) at the Independence Square. Some of the prospective students collapsed and were rushed to the Ridge Hospital Emergency Unit.

VPWA further called for a proper strategy in relation to the placements to avoid corruption whereby people will extort sums of money from parents before placing their wards.

They also urged parents to accept the schools where their wards will be placed through the computer placement system.

Please read the full statement below:

CROWD AT INDEPENDENCE SQUARE, UNNECESSARY – VPWA

A visit to some schools in Ashanti and Eastern Region by Volunteer Partnerships for West Africa (VPWA) has shown a calm enrollment process by first-year students. The monitoring visit became necessary due to nationwide media sentiments around the Computerized Placement Process due to the mismatch in choice of schools.

Our preliminary investigation has revealed the following:

1. Some parents and students were unaware of the implications of their school choice.

2. Insufficient explanation and communication on the part of duty bearers in reaching out to the nation ahead of the release of placement

3. We can also confirm that most students indeed have placement and the few who have issues bother on their desire to change schools base on proximity to home and swap in boarding/day.

However, if proper strategy is not urgently put in place this situation will create a fertile ground for corruption leading to the emergence of “admission contractors” who will parade the corridors of endowed schools and to extort sums of money from parents of children who qualify and have already been placed. The lack of extensive public education before the release of the placement resulted in the seeming unnecessary crowd.

RECOMMENDATIONS

• It is the recommendation of VPWA that, to avoid these occurrences in the future, GES will have to invest in public education and sensitization during the school choice and registration ahead of the writing the BECE.

• While we acknowledge the enormous infrastructure development in second cycle schools, we entreat parents and children to accept placement in any school where they are placed to reduce the pressure on the heads of endowed schools.

• Finally, we call on the government to institute remedial measures to make up for the lost contact hours for students who will experience delayed placement