The Institute for Education Studies (IFEST-Ghana) has called on the Ministry of Education to urgently announce a clear pathway for approximately 55,000 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates who failed to secure placement in any Senior High School (SHS) or Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institution.
In a press statement issued and signed by its Executive Director, Dr. Peter Anti Partey, the education think tank warned that without immediate intervention, thousands of young Ghanaians risk falling out of the education system entirely.
“The continued absence of a clearly communicated intervention for these students is worrying. The Ministry of Education must explain what concrete arrangements are being made to support them. Silence cannot be the policy,” the statement said.
Three Pathways
IFEST outlined three possible policy options for government to consider, stressing that abandoning the students should not be an option.
According to the Institute, government could first absorb the affected students into SHS/TVET institutions and place them on targeted intervention programmes in literacy and numeracy to address identified learning gaps while allowing them to progress.
The second option, it noted, would be to return the students to the basic-school level under a properly coordinated remedial programme with intensive preparation to enable them to resit the BECE as private candidates or during the next main examination.
The third possibility, which IFEST described as unacceptable, is to leave the students to their fate.
“This should not be considered an acceptable option in any education system, particularly one committed to expanding access to secondary education and ensuring that no learner is left behind,” Dr. Partey stated.
‘Every Learner Deserves a Pathway Forward’
The Institute cautioned that if the affected candidates are neither absorbed into SHS/TVET, placed on a structured remedial programme, nor prepared for another opportunity to progress, the education system would be failing in its core mandate.
IFEST is therefore demanding that the Ministry of Education and relevant agencies, including the Ghana Education Service and the TVET Service, urgently announce a clear, coordinated and time-bound intervention framework.
“Every learner deserves a pathway forward,” the statement emphasized.
The 2025/2026 academic year saw over 600,000 candidates sit for the BECE, with the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) leaving a significant number unplaced due to poor grades, especially in English and Mathematics, or challenges with school choices.
