By Jesse Ampah Owusu, GNA
Accra, Dec. 1, GNA – Africa Education Watch has attributed the decline in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results mainly to poor student preparation and stricter invigilation that curtailed cheating.
Mr Kofi Asare, the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, told the Ghana News Agency that the organisation’s preliminary analysis pointed to two key factors; insufficient preparation by candidates and tightened supervision during the exams.
He said the findings were based on engagements with 96 out of 150 teachers sampled for the study.
Eighty per cent of respondents indicated that students were ill-prepared, while 20 per cent cited more rigorous invigilation as influencing the performance outcome.
Mr Asare, however, urged the public to await the Chief Examiner’s Report for a full breakdown of the results to guide informed assessments.
“We should be careful in assigning systemic blame for the WASSCE performance,” he said.
“There may be some institutional challenges, but the report is critical for identifying gaps and preventing a recurrence of the 2025 outcome,” Mr Asare said.
He called for a behavioural change communication strategy to motivate and better prepare candidates, stressing the need to build confidence rather than pressure students.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has dismissed comments by Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, a former Minister for Education, suggesting that “unsupportive management practices” at the Service contributed to the poor results.
In a statement issued on Monday, the GES described the claims as misleading and an attempt to deflect responsibility.
It said no teacher allowances had been cancelled, noting that the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department had already explained the delay in the payment of November allowances.
The GES urged the public to disregard the comments, insisting that the 2025 WASSCE results accurately reflected the performance of candidates and were a credible representation of their abilities.
It reaffirmed its commitment to maintaining the integrity of the examinations, citing the rigorous invigilation and supervision that characterised the examination.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
1 Dec. 2025