25 Akropong School for the Blind students finally placed; Onua FM praised

Twenty-five candidates of the Akropong School for the Blind in the Eastern Region have had their concerns met as they have been placed under the Computerized School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) after a month. Onua FM’s Yen Sempa on Thursday, October 2 reported that barely one month after the Ghana Education Service (GES) began the process for the placement of students who passed their Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) into Senior High Schools (SHS), the 25 candidates of the Akropong School for the Blind in the Eastern Region were yet to placed.

• CSSPS: 25 Akropong School for the Blind students yet to be placed

Yen Sempa subsequently drew the attention of the CSSPS Secretariat, which subsequently through the Head of Communications for the Free SHS, Josberta Gyan Kwakye, requested for particulars of these pupils for onward placements. On Friday, October 3, the candidates presented their handwritten particulars to the CSSPS Secretariat for them to be placed. The students presented their names, index numbers and chosen SHSs, which were received by Ms Gyan Kwakye. Speaking in an interview with Yen Sempa hosted by Bright Kwasi Asempa, partially impaired Joseph Essien, who was happy after the placement, explained that he should have gone to school on Monday, October 7 to start the processes of beginning the SHS but wanted to come and express gratitude to Onua FM and the CSSPS Secretariat for the prompt response. He recalled that they visited the Education Ministry and the Independence Square several times but they were not attended to until they called on Onua FM’s Yen Sempa for assistance. Challenges at the Blind School Essien said the Akropong School for the Blind faces numerous challenges and one of them is the lack of specialized papers for the blind students to write on. He explained that the papers are not available so if students do not get the opportunity of purchasing it, they have to go for MP3 electronics gadgets for recording before they could study but that gadget is also expensive. Ms Gyan Kwakye said the CSSPS has only 5 per cent left to be placed and these could go online and do self-placements. In a related development, two candidates who sat the BECE at the Ghana National Basic Inclusive School in Cape Coast in the Central Region have not been placed. One of the teachers of the school, Castro Doe, who called into the  show on Monday to complain about the issue, said “the students selected Ghana National College”. He gave their names as Elvis Koranteng and Ansah Isaac and added that “we submitted the details to the Ghana Education Service”. Ms. Gyan Kwakye promised that, like Yen Sempa did for the Akropong School for the Blind in the Eastern Region, it should do same for them to be placed. By Kweku Antwi-Otoo|editors.3news.com|Ghana