President John Dramani Mahama has attributed the recent decline in WASSCE performance to persistent weaknesses in Ghana’s basic education system, announcing a renewed government focus on strengthening early literacy and numeracy. Addressing the Doha Forum 2025 on Saturday, the President stressed the need to redirect national attention to foundational learning as a means of bridging gaps that have hindered progress at the secondary level.
“There has been some neglect at the basic stage, and so we are returning to foundational learning—ensuring that children master the three Rs: reading, writing, and arithmetic,” he stated during a panel discussion on Economic Empowerment in Africa: Pathway to Inclusive Prosperity.
He said spending at the secondary level has grown at the expense of basic schools, adding that the imbalance has weakened the foundation many pupils need to succeed.
“One of the places that has taken most of our funding in education is the secondary level,” he explained. “We are going to look at foundational learning again.”
His comments followed the release of the provisional 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination results by the West African Examinations Council on November 29, 2025. The figures show a sharp decline in performance across the core subjects.
Core Mathematics recorded 48.73 per cent of candidates scoring between A1 and C6, compared with 66.86 per cent in 2024. Social Studies fell from 71.53 per cent in 2024 to 55.82 per cent in 2025. English Language stood at 69 per cent compared with 69.52 per cent the previous year.
During the panel discussion, President John Dramani Mahama observed that recent data highlights persistent challenges in core subjects, noting “weaknesses in mathematics, as well as in writing and sentence construction.” He stressed that students without a solid foundation at the basic level often struggle to adapt once they advance to secondary school. “If the basics are weak, it becomes difficult for the child to catch up at the secondary stage,” he explained.
The President also underscored the urgent need to strengthen technical and vocational education, pointing out that while Ghanaian industries consistently demand middle-level technicians, universities continue to produce a surplus of graduates in business administration, marketing, and the humanities.
“Today if you speak to captains of industry in Ghana and ask what skills they are looking for, they are looking for middle-level technicians,” Mr Mahama said.
He added that the country inherited a grammar school tradition that “puts a lot of value on speaking very good English” but gives limited attention to practical skills and hands-on work. Mr Mahama warned that Africa faces an estimated 230 million digital jobs by 2030 and young people without the needed skills may be exposed to criminal networks.
“By 2050, one out of every three children will be an African. If we don’t equip our children with the skills to thrive in this digital age world, it is going to be a problem,” he said. “We have so many young people ready to be hired by bad guys, the drug people, the terrorists and these criminals. This is the reality.” The President called for progress that the public can verify and urged government agencies to provide clear and accessible data on outcomes in the education sector. “We must have measurable progress in every single sector,” he said.
Source: Mohammed Ali
