The alarming failure rate of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) has ignited debate on what appears to be a negative resetting of education of basic in Ghana. In the heat of the 2024 general elections, the ruling National Democratic Congress (NDC) promised to reset the economy and education, but little did it occur to many Ghanaians that secondary education would suffer such a rapid reversal in a little under one year.
According to WAEC’s provisional results for the 2025 WASSCE more than half of the candidates (220,008) out of 461,736 failed core Mathematics. The WAEC data showed a staggering drop in the percentage of candidates achieving grades A1 to C6 in Core Mathematics. More than 220, 000 candidates failed by nearly 18 percentage points compared to the previous year. This makes it the worst performance in mathematics in seven years, a development which should be placed at the doorsteps of the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education. Unfortunately for Ghana and the parents or caregivers the Ghana Education Service has justified such a dastardly performance of teachers in teaching mathematics and other core subjects.
Who is to blame?
In response to public backlash, the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) attributed the sharp decline in Core Mathematics in the 2025 WASSCE to specific skill gaps among students. In a statement Mr. John Kapi, the Director of Public Affairs of WAEC revealed the seven areas where candidates performed badly as:
- Representing mathematical information in diagrams
- Solving global math-related problems,
- Constructing cumulative frequency tables,
- Making deductions from real-life problems,
- Solving simple interest applications,
- Translating word problems into mathematical expressions and
- Interpreting results from cumulative frequency data.
According to Mr. Kapi, the seven subtopics constitute areas in mathematics which the chief examiners identified weaknesses in the performance of candidates. Mr. Kapi explained that the seven areas are integral to the core syllabus for mathematics. So, what went wrong? While the Chief Examiner’s comments appeared to have shifted the blame on the candidates, it is obvious that it was the Ghana Education Service (GES) and its teachers who failed to use the appropriate methodologies to teach mathematics. It is no secret that many mathematics teachers lack modern skills and methodologies, especially in the use of appropriate teaching and learning materials to make mathematics learning more convenient and friendly.
Poor management
There is no doubt that a conducive or an intimidating environment at any examination centre could account for 50 percent of the success rate of any subject, especially in mathematics, which requires logical reasoning and inferences. In other words, the poor management of any examination constitutes a major cause of failure. In this regard, I completely agree with the former Minster of Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum’s assertion\xa0that “unsupportive management practices” affected student performance in the 2025 WASSCE results. Dr. Adutwum rightly placed the national disgrace at the doorstep of the Ministry of Education and its invigilators, whose intimidating attitude largely contributed to poor scores in mathematics.
GES response
The GES shamelessly disputed Dr. Adutwum’s claims that poor management at the examination centres was responsible for the abysmal student performance. The statement signed by Daniel Fenyi, Head of Public Relations, urged the public to disregard Dr. Adutwum’s comments as an “attempt to shift focus from his shortcomings.” Below is GES’ defence.
- WASSCE Results Integrity: The Service maintained that the 2025 WASSCE results are a “true reflection of candidates’ academic performance”. The outcome is considered a credible representation of student abilities, achieved through heightened invigilation, strict supervision, and adherence to examination protocols.
- No Allowance Cancellations: The GES denied claims that it had cancelled any teacher allowances. The statement noted that the reasons for the non-payment of November allowances had been publicly explained by the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department.
- Commitment to Integrity: The GES reaffirmed its dedication to maintaining a credible examination system and will continue to work with stakeholders, including WAEC, to improve teaching, learning, and examination integrity.
Perhaps, the GES’s admission of a “heightened invigilation” and “strict supervision” simply confirms Dr. Adutwum’s assertion that the examination was poorly managed. Their posture at the examination centres was nothing short of intimidation. Judging from the 2025 scores in mathematics, the Ghana Education Service is a failed institution because its teachers failed to teach the students the very seven core areas in mathematics that the Chief Examiner identified. In fact, once the students failed, the GES and its teachers and supervisors equally failed on the job and should be held accountable for feeding on the \xa0taxpayers’ money without results. If invigilators breathed down the shoulders of students during a subject like mathematics, what result do you expect? In any serious country it should be the teachers and their supervisors who should be blamed and the not the students, who are the victims of a deliberate ploy by the government and teachers to frustrate the students, perhaps, to reduce the high enrollment in tertiary schools.
In 2024, the current government promised to pay the first-year fees of all students who gain admission to the universities. The campaign promises probably convinced thousands of youths who were aspiring to enter university to vote for the NDC. Once in power, the government has decided not to honour its promise to the students. So, a key strategy to avoid paying the current fees and subsequent ones could be to reduce admission to universities. In simple mathematics, the less admissions to university, the less money the government will pay to first year students as it promised. That is the highest breach of a social contract between the government and the youth it promised.
Role of Minister of Education
It is worth noting that the GES did not act in isolation. Prior to the examination, the Minister of Education, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu threatened the GES and its staff to create an intimidating environment at the examination centres perhaps, to cause fear and panic among the students.
Honestly, Mr. Haruna Iddrisu is a failure because he inherited a ministry and its agencies which had turned education around by creating an inclusive system and conducive environment for students to learn and pass examinations. To reverse the gains in such a dramatic and negative fashion in less than a year in charge reflects his poor leadership and lack of vision. Can Haruna Iddrisu return to Tamale and the entire northern territory and look in the faces of parents and their children who failed terribly? Can the more than 180 members of parliament of NDC similarly look at the faces of their constituents and justify the rapid reversal of secondary education by their government?
Support for students
In the immediate past, the Akufo-Addo administration procured and distributed past questions and examiners reports to all schools across the country. The past questions were meant to adequately prepare students in the core subjects for impending examinations. In addition, all teachers were motivated through additional allowances to increase the core-contact time in teaching the core subjects. These interventions resulted in the excellent pass rate of core subjects between 2017 and 2024. So, what has gone wrong, just a year after change of government?
In 204 then candidate John Dramani Mahama stood on a campaign platform and derided the record-breaking pass rate in mathematics, English, General science and social studies in the 2023 WASSCE results. He accused the previous government of colluding with WAEC to leak questions to the students. That was an unfortunate and unsubstantiated statement to have been made by a person seeking to become the president of Ghana. Now that he is the president of Ghana, shall we take it he and his government connived with WAEC and the GES to cause the massive failure in mathematics in 2025?
Remedial classes business
Regrettably the failure of students has become a money-making venture for teachers and WAEC as an institution. It is these mathematics teachers together with other core subject teachers across the country who will start organizing extra classes for the failed candidates. The practice is that teachers deliberately defaulted in comprehensively teaching students, and in turn profited from their failure through organizing remedial classes. Organizing remedial classes and rewriting has become a very lucrative business for both GES teachers and WAEC. This unethical practice was disabled under the free SHS policy, but it has been resurrected by the current dispensation.
Sadly, the cost of extra classes, transportation and feeding of students comes at a huge cost to poor parents, especially those in rural areas. Such remedial classes are rarely organized in remote parts of Ghana, an indication that students from rural areas might never have the opportunity to rewrite and hopefully improve their scores for tertiary education.
What we have failed to collectively recognize is that several poor parents will not have money for their children to pay for remedial classes to rewrite, and that may signal an end to the aspirations of such children to have tertiary education and the hope of a better future. Thus, we are back to square one, where only children from rich families will have the privilege of higher education. In that regard, it will not be long for parents to push their children to the streets to sell pure water, biscuits and dog chains.
Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).
