Former Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum has mentioned that Ghana should judge the new school selection system by its results rather than assume that allowing students to choose schools after seeing their examination results is automatically better.
Under the new process, students receive their results before selecting up to eight schools. Adutwum said this is different from the system used during his tenure, when students selected schools before receiving their results.
He said the important question is whether the new approach actually reduces anxiety and produces better placement outcomes for students.
“We should look at the outcomes,” he said, suggesting that the system should be compared with previous years to determine whether it has made a meaningful difference.
Adutwum said he personally did not see anything wrong with students choosing schools before their results were released.
He compared the process to university admissions, where students can apply or select institutions before their final results are available.
However, he acknowledged that allowing students to see their grades first could help those who want to know whether they have the grades required for Category A schools.
His concern is that if waiting for examination results is now central to the process, the technology supporting it must work properly.
“If there’s no difference, then what is the point?” he asked, arguing that the new system should ultimately be assessed by what it achieves for students.
