CSSPS Tips and How the CSSPS System Works. The CSSPS portal is an automated online portal that is used by the Ghana Education Service to assign Senior High Schools (SHS) to Basic school leavers. Students who have completed their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) are made to purchase the CSSPS voucher which can be used to check the BECE school placement online.
How the CSSPS Placement Works
The CSSPS placement is divided into 3 placement types.
- Automatic Placement
- Self Placement
- Manual Placement
Read Also: CSSPS Questions and Answers
1. CSSPS Automatic Placement
- This is the process by which the CSSPS places the students, by merit, into one of their chosen schools in descending order. This is done automatically without any manual intervention.
- If the candidate’s aggregate falls within the merit of the programme chosen for their first choice, the CSSPS then checks the student’s preferred residential status (Day or Boarding) and then places them accordingly based on the available accommodation. If the desired residential status is full, the CSSPS moves the candidate to their second choice and then repeats the process until placement is done.
- For instance, if a student with aggregate 8 would otherwise get placement in school A, but had chosen a Boarding option (which tends to be more competitive), and there happens to be no available space because other candidates with better aggregates have secured placement into the boarding house.
- The system will NOT place that student on Day Status in that school because the Day Option was not the candidate’s residential choice for that school. The system will rather move them to their Second Choice School to attempt to get both their preferred programme as well as their choice of residential status. If unsuccessful, the system will proceed to their third choice, and the process is repeated until the student is placed.
Where a school is oversubscribed for a particular programme by students with similar aggregates, a Tie–Breaking System is employed to determine the placement, using the following parameters:
a. The number of Grade Ones
For example, if 400 students with Aggregate 6 are competing for Science in School A and there are only 180 available slots for Science, the ranking will be done such that those with Nine Ones, will gain admission, followed by those
with Eight Ones, and so on.
b. Raw Score
If there is a further need to break a tie, this will be done in descending order with respect to the raw scores obtained in the best six subjects.
c. Subject performance
A further tie–breaking, where necessary, will then follow taking into consideration the best grades obtained in the Core Subjects, in a manner as follows:
- English, then
- Mathematics, then
- Integrated Science, then
- Social Studies.
The Placement results are then released by GES in an announcement via a Press Communication. After the official release, candidates can check their school placement
via:
- Text message to check their placement information, or
- An Online portal i.e. http://www.cssps.gov.gh
In checking their placements, candidates will be able to access the following
information:- Placed school (name and location).
- Residential status (whether Day or Boarding)
- Programme of study
- School calendar start date
The placement results should then be printed out with other relevant documents and taken to the school in which the candidate has been placed, in order to enroll, obtain a school prospectus and prepare for school.
2. CSSPS Self Placement
In some instances, a student may not be successful in securing placement in any of their choices. Self–placement is a process that gives such candidates an opportunity to go into the CSSPS portal and select from schools with available vacancies.
Read Also: BECE Result Checker Portal
Features of Self–Placement
- Only Schools with available vacancies will be displayed on the portal.
- Schools with vacancies will be displayed for candidates to choose based on their aggregate.
- Schools shown will have their location and residential options available.
- A candidate can change schools as many times as possible depending on available spaces. The changes CEASE immediately after a candidate enrolls in a school.
The Self–Placement Process
A candidate will log into the system using their index number.
The candidate will choose 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, then there will be a drop-down menu for the candidate
to select:
i. Day within catchment area; OR
ii. Day outside the catchment area - The ‘Day within catchment area’ option displays only schools with Day vacancies within 16km of the JHS the candidate attended.
- A 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 the candidate intends to attend school outside their catchment area as a Day Student.
Read Also: SHS Prospectus For All Senior High Schools in Ghana
3. Manual Placement
The Manual/Special Placement is a means by which certain categories of candidates are placed due to their peculiar situations. The following categories of candidates are placed manually:
- Special Needs and Gifted candidates (visually/hearing impaired, etc.)
- Seminarians
- Protocol Allocation
Manual Placement – Special and Gifted Students
There are specific schools that accept special and gifted candidates.
The manual placement system provides the following capabilities for such candidates:
- Allows re–entry for special students only
- There is a separate interface for manual processing for special students.
- Provides separate allocation of vacancies for special students in selected schools.
Read Also: List of Category A Schools in Accra
Manual Placement – Seminarians
- Seminary schools are establishments that train a section of their students for future Priesthood.
- These institutions conduct their own interviews and examination exercises to select
specific candidates who are best suited for the purposes of the Seminary. - A list of candidates from each Seminary Institution is submitted to GES headquarters for processing.
