The Government has opened the self-placement system to the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) candidates who obtained a score of nine in either English Language or Mathematics, or in both subjects.

The move is to provide an alternative pathway for candidates whose examination results did not meet the requirements for automatic placement.

Dr Clement Abass Apaak, the Deputy Minister of Education, announced this on Monday at a press briefing on the 2026 BECE placement into the second cycle schools.

He said 57,259 candidates fell within the category that did not receive automatic placement based on their examination outcomes.

Of that number, 35,382 obtained a score of nine in either English Language or Mathematics, while 18,505 obtained a score of 9 in both subjects.

He said those candidates would be allowed to use the self-placement portal to select schools and programmes with available vacancies.

Dr Apaak encouraged affected candidates and their parents not to lose hope but to take advantage of the available opportunities.

A separate arrangement has been made for 3,372 candidates whose results are currently unavailable.

He said those candidates would not be placed at this stage but would be given another opportunity to re-sit the examination to enable them to progress along the educational pathway.

The decision, Mr Apaak said, aimed at ensuring that young people were not unnecessarily left behind while maintaining the integrity of the examination and placement systems.

“The self-placement portal is already live, with candidates advised to consider the full range of available public and private schools, Senior High Technical Schools and technical and vocational institutions,” he said.

The announcement comes as the Ministry releases the 2026 CSSPS results, under which 527,932 out of 604,567 qualified candidates have, so far, been placed in secondary, technical and vocational institutions.