The Ghana Education Service (GES) has emphasised that students placed in the 70 selected private Senior High Schools and Technical Vocational Institutes will bear no extra fees or dues for the three years of their schooling.
Professor Ernest Davis, Director-General of GES, explains that the selected private schools benefit from the free-SHS capitation grant which covers all the teacher, teaching and learning materials related costs of all students as well the school feeding.
For the first time under the free-SHS scheme, 70 private second cycle institutions have been selected to receive students at no extra cost to the students. This falls in line with the NDC manifesto promise made by the current President John Mahama. The initiative will help absorb the burden on the overstretched public second cycle institutions while expanding access to quality secondary education for more students.
The initiative is a pilot phase in collaboration with the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS) as the Ministry of Education, GES, and GNACOPS are expected to coordinate capacity-building, training, and infrastructure support for the selected schools.
“Students placed in the private schools do not need to pay any fees. All of them have been captured under the capitation grant including their feeding. So parents whose wards are eligible for self-placement can consider the private schools”, Prof Davis said while answering a question during a press briefing in Accra.
The Ministry of Education last week announced the release of the 2025 school placements for candidates who sat for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Out of 603,328 students who wrote the exams, 590,309 qualified for placement into Senior High Schools (SHSs), Senior High Technical Schools (SHTSs), and Technical and Vocational Institutions (TVIs).
According to the Ministry, 483,800 candidates, representing 82 percent, have been automatically placed, while 107,509 candidates will have to use the self-placement portal.
Deputy Education Minister Dr. Clement Apaak explained that the high demand for top-tier schools meant some candidates could not be matched with their preferred choices. He encouraged affected students to use the self-placement system, which is now active.
This year, the Ministry is piloting 70 private schools under the Free SHS Programme. Initially, only 21 were included during school selection, but all 70 are now accessible on the placement portal.
In total, the placement exercise covers 724 public SHSs/SHTSs, 233 TVIs, and 70 private SHSs. Resolution centres have also been set up at district, regional, and national levels, with the GNAT Hall in Accra serving as the national centre.
The Ministry reminded parents and guardians that placement is free and cautioned against making payments to individuals in exchange for placement.
By Adnan Adams Mohammed
