Frequently Asked Questions on CSSPS
The Ghana Education Service (GES) has released the frequently asked questions on the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS).
This article attempts to address different challeneges that may likely be faced by candidates who are expecting to be placed into different schools.
Question 1
I missed out on all my five Choices, what do I do????
Answer
A candidate who did not get any of the choices selected through Automatic Placement should proceed to the self-placement portal.
Self-placement is a process that gives such candidates an opportunity to go into the CSSPS portal and select from schools with available vacancies.
Features of Self-Placement
- Only schools with available vacancies are displayed on the portal.
- Schools with vacancies will be displayed for candidates to choose based on their aggregate.
- Schools shown have their location and residential options available.
- A candidate can change schools as many time as possible depending on available spaces. The changes CEASE immediately a candidate enrols in a school.
The Self Placement Process
A candidate logs into the system using their index number. The candidate chooses their residential preference i.e Day or Boarding.
- If a candidate selects Boarding, all schools with boarding vacancies will be displayed.
- If a candidate selects Day, there will be a drop down menu or the candidate to select.
- Day within the catchment area, OR
- Day outside catchment area.
- The ‘Day within catchment area’ option displays only schools with day vacancies within 16km of the JHS the candidate attended.
- Day outside catchment area displays all schools with day vacancies. Before the ‘Day outside catchment area’ option is effected, the candidate must confirm again if they intend to attend school outside their catchment area as a Day student.
- programme of choice is selected.
After successfully going through this process, the candidate then prints the placement form and proceeds to the school enrolment.
Question 2
Can a candidate with good grades miss out on their first, second or all of their choices?
Answer
YES. All spaces n the schools are competitively filled taking into consideration the available spaces in the school (i.e Preferred residential status and programme of choice). Hence, qualified candidates are ranked from the highest score to the lowest and the system will cut off when the spaces are exhausted. Those who did not get placements are then moved to their next school of choice to compete for space there, and the process continues further down the chain.
Question 3
Can I be enrolled in a school when I or a representative of mine is not present?
Answer
NO. For enrolment to be successful, the school will need the student’s unique ID, address and details of their parents or guardians, and phone number. Once a candidate or parent/guardian submits their forms to the school placed, the school uses the information provided on the forms to enrol the candidate. It is therefore not possible for a school to get all such personal information of a candidate without the candidate or a representative being present in the school.
Questions 4
Can a candidate change their residential status or programme of study after placement?
Answer
NO. A candidate usually gets placed into a particular school based on their preferred programme and the residential status they chose. A candidate competes for a slot in a particular school based on the preferences provided. Therefore neither the residential status nor the programme of study can be changes
Question 5
I was enrolled in a school but my name can no longer be found on their system. What can be done?
Answer
If needed a candidate was enrolled in a particular school but the details can no longer be found n the school’s system, the Head of the school will formally report to the appropriate office for redress. The candidate should not be sent away from the school.
