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2026 BECE Placement Reforms: Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis Announces New 2-School Selection; Must Include One Day School Locally

A major shift is coming to the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) for the 2026 BECE cohort. The Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Professor Ernest Kofi Davis, has officially announced a reformed school selection model that will fundamentally change how Junior High School (JHS) leavers choose their senior high schools.

For the first time, candidates will be required to select two Category A schools as part of their choices, but with a firm new condition: one must be a boarding school, and the other must be a day school within the candidate’s own locality.

The announcement was made during a stakeholder engagement on the upcoming placement exercise. Prof. Davis explained that the reform is a targeted policy intervention to correct years of placement congestion in a handful of elite boarding schools, while utilising the massive infrastructure and teaching capacity available in day schools across every district.

What Is the Current Problem?

Under the existing system, candidates typically choose six schools: four Category A (top-tier national boarding schools), one Category B, and one Category C, or variations thereof, often prioritizing category over proximity. The result has been perennial disappointment, with hundreds of thousands of students being placed in schools they did not select, or missing out entirely, simply because a disproportionate number of applicants converged on the same 40 to 50 high-end boarding schools, particularly in the Greater Accra, Ashanti, and Central regions.

Prof. Davis noted that this imbalance leads to overcrowding in a few institutions and risks undermining the free senior high school policy’s goal of equitable access.

The 2026 Reform: Two Category A Schools, One Must Be Local

Here is exactly how the new selection structure will work for 2026 BECE candidates, as outlined by the Director-General:

Category A Selection: Every candidate will select two Category A schools.
- Slot 1: One boarding school. This can be any national Category A school known for residential status (e.g., Wesley Girls’, Prempeh College, Mfantsipim, etc.), as long as it offers boarding facilities.
- Slot 2: One day school within the candidate’s locality. This must be a Category A day school in the district, municipality, or region of the student’s residence. “Locality” is being defined as a school that the student can attend as a day student and commute to daily from home.
Other Categories (B and C): Details are still being finalised, but candidates are expected to still select additional schools from lower categories, likely following similar geographic or programme-based considerations to fill out the standard six-choice list.

Why This Policy? The Rationale Explained

Prof. Davis gave several clear reasons for this new direction:

Decongesting Boarding Schools: Mandating that one of two prestigious Category A slots goes to a local day school will drastically reduce the application pressure on a small number of national boarding schools. Spaces in these boarding schools will be reserved for students who genuinely require residential accommodation—those coming from far distances or with special circumstances.
Optimising Infrastructure: He argued that many Category A day schools (such as Accra Academy, Aggrey Memorial AME Zion, or Sunyani Senior High, etc.) have excellent facilities, laboratories, and teachers comparable to their boarding counterparts, but are consistently under-subscribed simply because of a perceived prestige gap. The reform aims to fill these day schools with top BECE performers.
Reducing Placement Failures: With a built-in local day school option, the computer will have a guaranteed high-probability placement for every candidate. This eliminates a scenario where a student who qualifies for Category A but fails to get any of their four boarding choices ends up completely unplaced or placed in a school they never selected.
Enhancing Parental Involvement and Cost: Proximity reduces the financial burden on parents. A day student eliminates boarding and feeding fees, which can be a major concern even under the Free SHS policy, as parents still bear some indirect costs.
Enforcing the Rule of Localisation: The GES has long had a policy of “local placement” for at least a portion of the intake into each school, but it has been poorly enforced. This reform operationalises that goal from the candidate’s own selection end.

What Are the Implications for Candidates and Parents?

Students Can No Longer “Gamble” with All Boarding Choices: A candidate who lives in Kwadaso, Kumasi, cannot select Prempeh College (boarding) as their first Category A choice and then select Wesley Girls’ (boarding) as the second. One of those two must be a day school in Kumasi, such as T.I. Ahmadiyya Senior High, Kumasi High, or another Category A day school within the locality.

Residential Proximity Becomes a Factor: A student from a rural district in the Oti Region might find that the only Category A day school in their locality is a certain community school. The policy intends that the student select that as the local day slot. This may raise some controversy, but the GES is expected to classify schools clearly by district and ensure that the selection portal automatically restricts the second slot to eligible local day schools within that candidate’s designated zone.
Stronger Day School Identity: The move is likely to boost the profiles of many high-performing day schools. Parents will start paying more attention to the academic record of their local Category A day schools, which may lead to a more even distribution of quality students across the system.
Potential Pushback from Some Parents: Traditionally, many parents and students view boarding school as a rite of passage and a status symbol. They may resist the idea of being “forced” to choose a day school. Prof. Davis acknowledged this cultural hurdle but stressed that the best opportunity for a child is a good school, not necessarily a boarding school far from home. He underscored that day students can also achieve excellence.

The Bigger Picture: A System Under Repair

This reform does not stand in isolation. It is part of a series of CSSPS reforms being rolled out to curb manipulation (e.g., protocol placement), update school catchment area data, and ensure that the placement system accurately reflects the reality of available infrastructure. The GES is also working with the National Identification Authority to tighten the residency verification process that will map every candidate’s locality to the list of eligible day schools.

Conclusion: A Bold Step Towards Equity

The 2026 BECE placement reform requiring candidates to select one local Category A day school and one boarding school is a watershed moment for Ghana’s secondary education. While the adjustment will require a shift in mindset for parents and students, it promises a more balanced, less congested system that benefits the majority.

Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis has drawn a clear line: the era of piling all choices onto the same elite boarding schools is being phased out. The future is local, accessible, and equitable.

We will continue to monitor the GES for the full list of Category A day schools per locality as the 2026 BECE registration commences. In the meantime, stakeholders are urged to take the reform seriously and begin researching the excellent day schools available in their own backyards.