Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu has acknowledged challenges with this year’s Senior High School (SHS) placement process but says the widely cited figure of about 55,000 affected candidates does not represent the number of students who have simply been left without school placements.Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, Mr Iddrisu said the government recognised that there were challenges with the Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), but its focus was on addressing the underlying issues rather than dealing only with their effects.“I admit that we have a problem as a country. I am not interested in dealing with the symptoms; I want to deal with the real problems,” he said.According to the Minister, about 604,000 students are currently in the placement system, of whom 527,000, representing 87 per cent, have already been placed.He argued that the placement figures should therefore be considered in context, particularly because vacancies remain available in several schools.Mr Iddrisu, however, acknowledged that the existence of vacancies does not necessarily resolve the concerns of affected families, as many of the available places are in schools that may not be among the preferred choices of students and their parents.Pressure on Category A schoolsThe Minister said one of the major challenges was the concentration of demand on a relatively small number of highly sought-after schools.He said between 313,000 and 328,000 applications had been made for Category A schools, which collectively have about 76,000 vacancies.The figures, he explained, demonstrate the significant pressure created when a large number of students compete for a limited number of places in schools that are perceived as more desirable.Mr Iddrisu said the government was therefore seeking to address what it considers to be structural weaknesses in the CSSPS rather than relying solely on temporary measures to resolve individual placement difficulties.New approach to school selectionThe Education Minister also defended a change introduced to the placement process this year, under which students were required to wait for their examination results before making their final school choices.He said the policy was intended to allow students and parents to make more informed decisions based on actual academic performance.Under the new arrangement, candidates are expected to consider their results and competitiveness before selecting schools, while the placement system continues to take account of factors such as available vacancies and other placement considerations.Mr Iddrisu said the change was designed to reduce unrealistic expectations and the mismatch between students’ preferred schools and the number of places available.55,000 figureThe Minister’s comments come amid public concern over reports involving approximately 55,000 candidates in the 2026 placement exercise.However, the figure has been the subject of some confusion. The CSSPS Secretariat previously indicated that about 565,000 of the nearly 620,000 candidates who sat the 2026 BECE had qualified for placement, with roughly 55,000 candidates not qualifying after failing either English Language or Mathematics.The Ministry has subsequently clarified that candidates who obtained Grade 9 in either English Language or Mathematics are eligible to use the self-placement process to select from schools with available vacancies.Mr Iddrisu’s comments therefore point to a distinction between candidates who have not secured their preferred schools and those who initially did not qualify for placement under the criteria.He said the government’s priority was to address the structural challenges within the placement system to make the process more responsive to the needs of students and families.