President John Dramani Mahama has blamed the sharp decline in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results on the long-term neglect of Ghana’s basic education system.
This year’s WASSCE recorded one of the worst national performances in recent years. More than half of all candidates failed Core Mathematics, while Social Studies also saw a significant drop.
Speaking at the National Launch of STEMBox for Basic Schools, President Mahama described the outcome as “disastrous” and said an immediate diagnostic review is underway.
He revealed that he has directed the Education Ministry to study the examiner’s report to determine what “went so disastrously wrong,” noting that students taught by the same teachers under similar conditions performed far worse than the previous cohort.
“It is mind-boggling that with the same teachers, the same factors in play, just from one batch to another, one batch does so disastrously,” he said.
President Mahama stressed that the crisis underscores the urgent need to fix foundational learning at the basic level.
“One of the major things that has taken place in the last several years is the neglect of basic education… inability to send the grants and ensuring that we have quality teachers at a foundational level,” he said.
According to him, poor grounding at the primary level inevitably affects performance at the secondary and tertiary stages.
“By the time a child leaves primary school, they should be able to read properly… write properly… and do basic arithmetic,” he emphasized.
President Mahama reinforced that strict invigilation “is here to stay” and urged parents and teachers to ensure students are adequately prepared rather than relying on shortcuts.
Source: Starrfm.com.gh
