Hundreds of French students from across the Ashanti Region converged on Prempeh College in Kumasi last week for a practical exam-preparation seminar designed to strip away the anxiety that has long surrounded French as a subject in the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The fourth edition of the annual regional gathering brought together French teachers and examiners drawn from multiple schools across the region, all focused on equipping final-year candidates with what organisers called the “golden rules” for succeeding in a subject that many students perceive as uniquely difficult.
The seminar was the initiative of Mr. Edward Kofi Frimpong, a French tutor at St. Louis Senior High School in Kumasi, who said the event grew directly from recurring issues flagged in the Chief Examiner’s Report. “Most students struggle to read and express themselves. I took it upon myself to organise examiners to help boost their boldness and learning styles,” Mr. Frimpong said.
Sessions were held in the J.A.K. Auditorium at Prempeh College, and the atmosphere shifted noticeably once interactive conversational drills got underway. Several students who spoke to Joy Learning TV admitted to carrying what they described as deep, unrated fear of the French papers. Teachers at the seminar countered that even average students could excel by mastering core exam facts and practising structured expression.
The highlight of the day was a reading competition and a series of conversational drills that transformed the auditorium into an active language exchange. The energy prompted students to call on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to create competitive French platforms at the national level, similar to the National Science and Maths Quiz (NSMQ), as a way of building wider interest in the language across secondary schools.
Mr. Francis Amankwah of Serwaa Nyarko Girls SHS reinforced the message, noting that students have the capacity for high performance when given structured guidance on conversational technique and exam-specific facts.
With the 2026 WASSCE examination period now weeks away, the seminar serves as a practical signal that teacher-led grassroots interventions can close the preparation gap where formal instruction alone has fallen short.
