Gov’t should fund BECE resits for 54,985 unplaced candidates – Eduwatch
Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has urged the government to support the 54,985 candidates who failed to secure placement in public Senior High Schools (SHS) and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions under the 2026 Free SHS/TVET programme.
The education policy advocacy group wants the affected candidates, who sat the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), to be given an opportunity to improve their academic performance and retake the examination at the government’s expense.
Eduwatch said the proposal could be modelled on a similar intervention introduced in 2019, when 38,355 candidates who did not qualify for placement were supported to return to Junior High School (JHS) 3 to prepare for another attempt at the BECE.
The organisation believes the same approach could benefit the 54,985 candidates left without placement in 2026, alongside targeted academic support to help improve their learning outcomes.
Eduwatch also raised concerns about the academic criteria used to determine eligibility for placement under the Free SHS/TVET policy.
According to the organisation, the treatment of candidates who obtain Grade 9 in English Language and Mathematics has varied over the years, with some candidates being denied placement in certain years while others with similar grades were admitted in different years.
“Such inconsistencies create uncertainty for candidates, parents and schools and underscore the need for a clearly defined and consistently applied qualification standard within the Free SHS/TVET policy framework,” Eduwatch said.
The organisation argued that the placement criteria should align with Ghana’s goal of making secondary education an accessible pathway for all graduates of basic education.
It further maintained that candidates who fall below the academic threshold should still have access to a suitable second-cycle education option, whether through general secondary education or TVET.
Eduwatch has therefore called on the Ministry of Education to clearly establish and publicly disclose the minimum academic requirements for placement under the Free SHS/TVET programme.
It also wants the Ministry to provide targeted learning support for affected candidates and cover the cost of their BECE resits.
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