WASSCE examiner’s report under review over mass failure – MoE
The Ministry of Education (MoE) is currently reviewing the official examiner’s report of the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination to understand the underlying causes of the decline in performance, the Minister for Education, Honourable Haruna Iddrisu, has disclosed.
Speaking at an event on the mass failure recorded in the 2025 WASSCE for School, he said his outfit will address the public on the outcome of the examination examiners’ report when the need arises.
“We are currently reviewing the examiner’s report on the West African Senior Certificate Exam, and as and when it’s necessary and appropriate to respond, we will respond adequately and satisfactorily, but our commitment to the provision of quality education under the leadership of President Mahama will remain unparalleled as the president will demonstrate in the coming days,” he added.
The Education Minister and Tamale South Member of Parliament said Ghanaians tend to praise students when results are good, but quickly blame the government when outcomes are poor.
“It is only in Ghana that when students do well in exams, the students are praised. When they don’t do well, the minister and the government are blamed. Instead of focusing on what caused the trip, we are interested in how we felt,” Iddrisu stated.
His comment follows a directive by President John Dramani Mahama for the Ministry of Education to thoroughly review the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) Chief examiners’ report of the 2025 WASSCE for School.
Speaking on Thursday, December 4, 2025, the President reiterated that vigilance and oversight during examinations would remain in place to eliminate any possibility of exam malpractice, urging student empowerment to study independently and succeed in their exams.
“… Vigilance is not going to go away. Strict invigilation is not going to go away, and so we must make sure that the children are well prepared to be on their own, be able to study and pass the exams that are waiting for them.
I have asked the Minister of Education, and he’s told the director general of the GES to study the examiner’s report and let’s see what quick reforms we can carry out in order that our children get a quality education,” he said.
Mr Mahama further expressed surprise at how students from the same school system, taught by the same teachers, can perform so differently from one person to another, suggesting that there is an underlying problem that needs to be addressed.
“It is mind-boggling that with the same teachers, the same factors in play, and just from one batch to another, one batch does so disastrously, and so we need to get to the bottom of it. 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, the inability to send the capitation grants, ensuring that we have quality teachers at a foundational basic level because it is that level that prepares the child for secondary and tertiary education. Once you don’t get that level right, you will just send the child through a conveyor belt like a factory,” Mahama noted.
He continued to say that, “And when it comes out at the end, it will be picked out by quality control and said that this one did not do well. Our focus must be on foundational learning, which means that by the time the child reaches primary school, he should be able to read properly, write properly, and should be able to do basic arithmetic.”
President John Dramani Mahama, in his public address on Thursday, stressed that this foundation will help students progress confidently into higher education without any struggles.
“If we’re able to get our children to get these three things right: writing, reading, and arithmetic, then they have the foundation to continue into secondary education, otherwise, it will be a factory that is just pushing them through and pushing them through and at the end of it, you have the situation where a child finishes basic school and sometimes still finds it difficult to write his name,” he added.
A total of 461,640 candidates, made up of 207,381 males and 254,259 females, drawn from 1,021 second-cycle schools registered for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination for School.
This figure represents a 0.22% increase over the 2024 entry figure of 460,611. The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School took place at 703 centres across the country.
The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School Candidates commenced on Tuesday, August 5 2025, with the Visual Art Project work and continued with the written papers on Monday, August 18, 2025. The examination will end on Friday, September 19, 2025.
