The Computerised School Selection and Placement System (CSSPS), used in the selection of Basic Education Certificate Examination graduates for admission into senior high schools (SHSs) is the best option for the nation.

According to Professor Jophus Anamuah-Mensah, former Vice Chancellor, University of Education, Winneba, the CSSPS offers equal opportunities to children from both poor and rich homes to be admitted into any SHS in the country based on merit.

He observed that the CSSPS had its short comings because it is being handled by human beings, and that despite this, its advantages outweighed its disadvantages.

Prof Anamuah-Mensah, who was speaking to the Ghana News Agency in Accra on Saturday, on the sidelines of the 12th Congregation of the Ghana Technology University College, urged government not to heed to the call by some headmasters for the abolition of the CSSPS.

He further appealed to the government to maintain the CSSPS and to improve upon its short comings.

Citing the 30 per cent admission quota for local communities, Prof Anamuah-Mensah lauded the CSSPS, stating that “I think that is a perfect thing, but the human element in it, is what is trying to destroy the whole thing”.

He said: “People are not going by it, because the technology is put in place by human beings; and once they have the power to do that, they can change things and that is our major problem.”

“Apart from that, irrespective of where you are coming from, you can be selected into any school at all,” he said.

Prof Anamuah Mensah added: “I don’t think just going back to the old ways of doing things will solve the problems. Again is human beings there; it is the headmasters/headmistresses, so they can do their own thing; it only gives the headmasters/headmistresses power.”

On the quality of teaching and learning in the country, Prof Anamuah-Mensah said Ghana needs professional teachers and not people who would go in there because they had no jobs.