ABOUT 1,700 students who successfully sat for form four national exams last November have been posted to public schools for advanced secondary education under second selection.
The new batch finalises allocation of form five students to public schools, leaving behind only 187 candidates whose subject combinations disqualify them for further educational pursuit.
Minister of State in President's Office, Regional Administration and Local Governments, Suleiman Jafo, told reporters here yesterday that only 187 out of all the candidates who successfully wrote the exams were not selected for advanced education.
At least 110,505 candidates wrote the form four examinations last year and scored divisions one to three, with 108,642 of them selected for Form Five education in public schools during the first selection.
The second selection of 1,676 students brings to 110,318 the total students who have secured slots in public schools, a record of 99.8 per cent of all the passed candidates.
Minister Jafo said out of the 1,674 students, 1,497 will join business and social science classes, with the remaining 178 students pursuing science and mathematics courses.
The new students have to report to their respective schools between September 2 and 16, this year, said the minister, warning that failure to register within the prescribed period will lead to forfeiture of the opportunity.
"I advise the remaining 187 students who couldn't secure slots in public schools to apply for technical trainings with various colleges under the National Council for Technical Education (NACTE)," Mr Jafo said.
The minister said 69,356 candidates-31,809 girls and 37,547 boys-or 62.76 per cent of all the candidates had the highest qualification to join Form Five.
He said 35,703 students joined science and mathematics courses while 33,653 others went for social science and business subjects. Apparently some 1,462 students-646 girls and 816 boys-joined special schools, thanks to their gifted intellectual talents.
This year's selection also includes students with special needs and according to the government announcement, at least 157 students-74 girls and 86 boys-made it to high school education.
