More resources and supervision are needed to ensure quality education and good results in the examinations, private legal practitioner Martin Kpebu has said.
Without adequate investment, the results will continue to be poor, he added.
“We need to look at the quality of what we teach. Put in all the facilities to make sure the children come out well. We have to up the investments,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, December 6.
Vice President of IMANI Africa, Kofi Bentil, also said that the poor performance of the candidates of the 2025 WASSCE is not so much a problem of the students.
He blamed the system, which is fraught with several weaknesses and a lack of adequate resource allocation.
“We need to create a system to absorb the stresses…There is a lot of work to be done,” he said on the Key Points on TV3 Saturday, December 6.
Kofi Bentil further observed that the cheating in examinations in the schools has become systemic. He says headmasters, teachers, and invigilators are all part of the system.
“Cheating has become systemic in many schools, organised. Teachers are part, headmasters are part, and invigilators are part. Schools are organising these things,” he said on the Key Points on T3 Saturday, December 6.
Also speaking on the same show, Mr. John Kapi, the Head of Public Affairs at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), said that the 2o25 WASSEC results reflect the true performance of the students.
He says that WAEC handled the scripts and awarded the marks, hence the confirmation that the results are a true reflection
“If you look at the results, clearly that for us is a reflection of the children’s performance; we deal with the script directly and mark and award the grades, so that’s the reflection of the children’s performance,” he said.
Meanwhile, President John Dramani Mahama has attributed the poor results in the recent WASSCE examination to years of neglect of basic education.
Speaking at the National Launch of STEMBox for Basic Schools in Accra on December 4, he said the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service will study the examiners’ report and implement urgent reforms.
“Recently, the West African Examinations Council has released the results for the last West African School Certificate Examination and as the Honourable Minister has said, it has become an issue of great concern to the government, parents and the public at large.
“I was speaking with the Minister, and I have asked them to do an analysis of the examiner’s report to try and decipher what could have gone so disastrously wrong,” the President stated.
President Mahama bemoaned the poor performance of this year’s WASSCE candidates, insisting that urgent action is needed to reform the education sector.
According to the President, a contributing factor to this year’s poor results in the West African Examinations is several years of inability to ensure quality education at the basic level.
The President stressed that the foundational level of the education system needs much improvement.
“But it also emphasises the issue of foundational learning. One of the major things that has taken place in the last several years is the neglect of basic education. Inability to send capitation grant, ensuring that we have quality teachers at the foundational level, at the basic level.
“Because it is that level that prepares the child for secondary and tertiary education and once you don’t get that level right, you will just send the child through a conveyer belt like a factory.
“And when it comes out at the end, it will be picked up by quality control and say that this one did not do well. And so our focus must be on foundational learning,” he added.
The 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results have been released with the data showing significant declines in performance in several core subjects.
The English Language subject recorded the highest performance among the core subjects.
According to official statistics, 7 in 10 candidates (69%) achieved a grade between A1 and C6, marking a strong outcome for the compulsory language paper.
The performance in English Language surpasses that of other core subjects among the candidates who sat for the 2025 exams.
The WASSCE results, released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), are crucial for university admissions and employment prospects for the nearly two million candidates who participated.
While the overall passing threshold (A1-C6) in English Language stood at 69%, other core subjects also recorded significant pass rates:
- Social Studies saw 55.82% of candidates achieving A1-C6 grades.
- Core Mathematics saw 48.73% of candidates securing grades between A1 and C6.
- Integrated Science had a pass rate of 57.74% in the A1-C6 band
