The Ministry of Education has clarified that students who fail one or two core subjects in the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) are not automatically disqualified from gaining admission to senior high school.
The Ministry’s spokesperson, Hashmin Mohammed, said there was no government policy that required students to be removed from the placement system solely because they had failed one or two subjects.
“We do not have a policy that says that if you fail one or two course subjects, you should be removed. We do not; such a policy does not exist,” he said.
His clarification follows concerns over the more than 55,000 students who failed to secure placement through the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS) following the release of the 2026 BECE results.
Mr Mohammed explained that the placement system had flagged students who failed one or two core subjects to enable the Ministry to collect data on their academic performance and use the information to guide education policy.
He stressed that being flagged by the system should not be interpreted as a final decision to deny such students admission to senior high school.
“We are saying that education, secondary education, is a right, but not a privilege. We need to give them a path,” he said.
Alternative Pathways
According to the Ministry, affected students have a number of options available to them, including self-placement into schools with available vacancies or enrolment in a remedial programme.
Students and their parents may also opt for the affected candidates to re-sit the BECE.
Mr Mohammed said the government was deliberately creating alternative pathways to ensure that students affected by the placement issue were not left without an opportunity to continue their education.
“We do not want to throw this group of students into the [streets] because its national security implications are going to be very, very high,” he said.
He added that the Ministry would monitor the academic progress of students who continue their education through the alternative pathway, with particular attention to subjects they previously failed.
The clarification is expected to allay concerns among parents and candidates who had assumed that being among the students flagged by the CSSPS meant they had been permanently denied admission to senior high school.
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