Stakeholders in the education sector have called for coordinated reforms to address systemic failures in the country’s education system.
This followed what they described as devastating and uninspiring results in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The call was made at a stakeholders’ dialogue in Accra last Monday, after analyses showed a sharp decline in performance across core subjects, particularly Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies.
The forum formed part of activities marking the International Day of Education and the launch of the annual Educational Times Dialogue.
It also focused on identifying the causes of the poor outcomes and proposed policy and institutional reforms.
The event was attended by participants from the National Council of Parent-Teacher Associations (NCPTA), the Africa Education Watch, the Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS), and the Ghana Reads Initiative.
Results
The General Secretary of NCPTA, Raphael Kofi Gabson, said the 2025 WASSCE results reflected long-standing structural weaknesses within the nation’s education system rather than a failure on the part of students.
He said performance in Mathematics declined by nearly 20 percentage points, while Integrated Science and Social Studies recorded significant reductions in overall pass rates, as well as in the proportion of candidates obtaining top grades such as A1s and B2s.
Mr Gabson said such outcomes were the cumulative effect of weak learning foundations at the basic education level.
He also mentioned inadequate classroom infrastructure, overcrowded classrooms, shortages of desks and textbooks, high teacher-pupil ratios, poor teacher motivation, indiscipline among students and teachers, and weak instructional supervision.
He further highlighted gaps in teacher training and professional development, limited access to ICT tools, poorly equipped science laboratories and a curriculum that placed greater emphasis on memorisation rather than on analytical thinking and problem-solving.
Recovery measures
To reverse the decline, Mr Gapson called for the introduction of a national emergency teaching and learning recovery programme.
He also recommended targeted retraining and redeployment of teachers, particularly in consistently low-performing schools, based on an analysis of BECE and WASSCE trends over at least five years.
Mr Gapson further urged the government to strengthen the role of Parent-Teacher Associations in monitoring teaching and learning, improving school discipline and supporting student attendance, while cautioning against the misuse of PTA platforms to facilitate examination malpractice.
Speaking on examination integrity, a representative of Africa Education Watch, a CSO, Kwasi Nimo Jnr, said his organisation conducted extensive monitoring of the 2025 WASSCE before, during and after the examination.
He explained that monitors were deployed nationwide and that findings were shared in real time with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service to enable prompt interventions.
Mr Nimo Jnr said the survey showed that reported incidents of examination malpractice declined to below six per cent in 2025, adding that incidents of exam “pollution” dropped by about 71 per cent as compared to previous years.
He, however, called for expanded external supervision, stricter administrative sanctions against teachers found culpable, possible criminalisation of examination malpractice and the adoption of long-term solutions such as electronic testing and CCTV surveillance.
The Chairperson of Ghana Reads Initiative, a CSO, Tina Aforo-Yeboah, observed that declining performance at the secondary level reflected the weak literacy and numeracy foundations developed much earlier in the education cycle.
