2025 BECE placement is free, don’t pay anyone

Parents and guardians of this year’s BECE candidates have been assured that no money is required to secure placement in Senior High Schools across the country.

Deputy Minister of Education, Dr. Clement Apaak, gave the assurance during a media briefing in Accra, stressing that the school placement exercise is free and transparent. He urged the public to report anyone demanding payment for placement to the police or the Office of the Special Prosecutor.

More than 600,000 students wrote the BECE in 2025, out of which over 590,000 qualified for placement. While close to 484,000 have already secured schools, some 107,000 students could not get their first choices because of competition for limited spaces in top-ranked schools. To address this, the Ministry has opened a self-placement portal where candidates can select from institutions with vacancies.

In a new move, 70 private schools have been added to the Free SHS programme under a pilot project, bringing more options to students and easing the burden on public schools. This comes on top of 724 public SHSs and SHTSs, as well as 233 technical and vocational institutions already part of the system.

Support centres have been established nationwide to guide families through the process, and officials say every effort is being made to ensure students transition smoothly into secondary education.

According to Dr. Apaak, the placement system remains one of the government’s strongest commitments to fairness in education, offering every child in Ghana an opportunity to progress without barriers.