The Upper East Regional Free Senior High School Coordinator, Daniel Achaab Adams, has urged candidates who sat this year’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) to make informed Senior High School selections by considering the programmes they wish to pursue and the available vacancies in schools instead of focusing only on popular institutions.
Speaking on the Big Mike Breakfast Show on Thursday, July 30, Adams explained that the annual school selection exercise is designed to guide BECE candidates into Senior High Schools, Senior High Technical Schools and TVET institutions as they prepare for the next stage of their education. He said officials had already begun training school coordinators on the guidelines to minimise challenges that usually arise during the selection process.
Adams noted that while academic performance remains important, school placement is also determined by the number of vacancies available in each institution. He explained that where a school receives applications beyond its capacity, qualified candidates could be placed in another school offering similar programmes.
“If Navasco can declare 50 vacancies for Business and another school declares 70, we take into consideration the capacity of these two schools.” He said.
He therefore encouraged candidates to align their choices with their intended career paths, adding that students interested in technical and vocational education should select TVET institutions, while those planning to study programmes such as General Arts or Science should choose schools that specialise in those areas.
Also speaking on the programme, Richard Akanchiba of the Free Senior High School Secretariat urged parents, teachers and candidates to carefully study the placement guidelines before selecting schools, saying the exercise should not be treated as a competition to enter only the most popular schools.
He stressed that candidates should understand the differences between Senior High Schools, Senior High Technical Schools and TVET institutions before making their selections to avoid choosing schools that do not offer their preferred programmes.
“If you know that you intend to pursue General Arts, you should know by default that the Senior High Technical schools offer more capacity in technical courses than General Arts.” He stated
Akanchiba further advised candidates who wish to pursue technical and vocational careers to make all their first-choice selections from TVET institutions, explaining that this would increase their chances of being placed in schools that match their career ambitions.
“If you want to purely take a TVET course, it means all your Category A choices must be TVET.” He said.
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