Police arrest 8 people over Computerized School Selection and Placement System fraud

The Ghana Police Service has reportedly arrested eight people in connection with Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSPSS) fraud.

The arrest follows the Fourth Estate’s latest investigative report titled “School Placement for Sale”.

A report by the news outlet said: “police have taken whatever evidence that they need from us and we hope that as time goes on they may be able to reach out beyond these eight and get to whoever served as the link between the intermediaries and also the Ghana Education Service, Director General and the Ministry of Education because only the two people could have agreed to any placement made into a category A school.”

It came to light following the undercover work of The Fourth Estate’s Adwoa Adobea-Owusu and Evans Aziamor-Mensah that the CSPSS was fraught with bribery and corruption rather than being implemented based on merit.

Placements into category A schools, according to the expose, were sold in 2022 even though approval for such placements was limited to only the Minister of Education and Director-General of the Ghana Education Service.

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The documentary revealed that 10% of slots are usually reserved for protocol placements.

The investigation further revealed that some parents paid up to 20,000 cedis to get their children enrolled in top-tier senior high schools, while some people too pay as much as 10,000 cedis to maintain a slot.

The CSSPS was introduced to eliminate corruption in the placement system, but some private individuals and government officials have connived to undermine the system.

The immediate past Director-General of the GES, Professor Kwasi Opoku Amankwah has accepted responsibility for the rot, saying he and the Minister of Education, Dr Yaw Adutwum should be held accountable.

“If there is fraud in the matter, then myself as Director General and Minister should take responsibility. I fully accept that and I fully agree,” he is quoted to have said.

Some people who might have fallen prey to the fraudulent activities or heard about it say it has been ongoing for a long time.

Meanwhile, pressure is mounting on the Education Minister to resign or be fired.

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