President John Dramani Mahama has expressed profound alarm over the significant decline in candidate performance in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), describing the development as “mind-boggling.”
Reacting to the results while speaking at the launch of the National STEMBox initiative for basic schools in Accra, the President disclosed that he has instructed the Minister of Education, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, to immediately launch a comprehensive review of the examiners’ report to determine the precise, underlying causes of the sharp drop in student performance.
The President stressed that the drastic nature of the failure has become an issue of major concern for the government, parents, and the public at large, demanding urgent and thorough investigation to identify the root of the problem.
“I was speaking with the (Education) Minister, and I have asked them to do an analysis – to try and decipher what could have gone so disastrously wrong. 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”
President John Dramani Mahama
President Mahama emphasized the perplexing nature of the sudden decline, questioning the sudden disparity in performance between the current and previous batches of students, who operated under ostensibly the same conditions.
He stressed the imperative to “get to the bottom of it” and ensure accountability within the education sector.
His directive for a thorough inquiry aims to move beyond superficial explanations and identify the systemic weaknesses that may be hindering student outcomes, thereby allowing the government to implement targeted and effective solutions.
Technical Weaknesses
The President’s instruction follows revelations by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) that chief examiners attributed the poor performance not to the quality of the examination itself, but rather to fundamental candidate weaknesses in critical technical and analytical skills.
In Core Mathematics, candidates demonstrated significant difficulties with application and representation of information. Key areas of failure included representing mathematical information in diagrams, solving real-life problems, constructing cumulative frequency tables, and interpreting data.
These weaknesses suggest a reliance on rote learning over the mastery of underlying principles necessary for problem-solving.
Similarly, in Social Studies, students struggled with analysis and application of government policy, indicating a gap between classroom knowledge and civic literacy.
Candidates were unable to clearly explain government policies, analyze the impact of costly funerals on national development, and discuss Ghana’s cooperation with United Nations agencies.
The President used the alarming WASSCE results to underscore a long-standing systemic issue in Ghana’s education structure, arguing that the failure is symptomatic of neglect at the foundational level.
He pointed out that the consistent poor management and under-resourcing of basic education has created a system where students enter secondary school without the requisite foundational skills to tackle complex subjects.
“One of the major things in the last several years is the neglect of basic education, inability to send capitation grants and ensuring quality teachers at the foundational level”
President John Dramani Mahama
The comments, made at the national launch of the STEMBox initiative for primary schools at Osu Eben-Ezer Presbyterian Church, position the new policy of strengthening foundational learning in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics as a direct, long-term response to the deficiencies highlighted by the WASSCE crisis.
The President was warmly welcomed to the event by the Education Minister, signaling their immediate focus on addressing the educational crisis.
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