Unrealistic performance targets are forcing Ghanaian teachers and headmasters to engage in widespread examination malpractice, with over half of monitored centres showing evidence of collusion during the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), according to Africa Education Watch.
The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare, revealed that systemic pressure on educators, not just student misconduct, is fueling the cheating crisis in senior high schools across Ghana.
Speaking on the Asaase Breakfast Show on Wednesday, Asare explained that Eduwatch’s monitoring of 150 schools found collusion and malpractice in more than half of the examination centres observed. “This is not an isolated issue, it’s systemic,” he said.
The organization has tracked WASSCE activities since 2019, expanding coverage this year due to surging cheating reports. Asare noted that since 2023, malpractice has shifted from leaked exam questions to real time collusion inside halls, as the Bureau of National Investigations (BNI) tightened question security.
Eduwatch’s report found that external supervisors from the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) visited most centres for only one to three days during the 20 day exam period, spending an average of 60 to 90 minutes per visit. Where WAEC is present, collusion does not happen, but once supervisors leave, cheating resumes, Asare explained.
WAEC requires over 200 additional staff to strengthen oversight but remains severely underfunded, with operations constrained by delayed government subventions, he added.
Asare argued that school heads and teachers face pressure to cheat because the Ghana Education Service (GES) requires them to achieve a 60 percent pass rate in subjects like mathematics. Many teachers resort to collusion because their promotions and recognition depend on these pass rate targets, he said.
He proposed scrapping result based performance indicators and replacing them with measures focused on teaching effort, including lesson delivery, homework, and student feedback.
Asare said it was unfair to expect teachers to meet strict targets while schools faced massive infrastructure deficits. Over 600,000 furniture units are needed, along with 9,000 teacher accommodations and 10,000 dormitory rooms. In some schools, students have not received tablets required under the new curriculum.
To tackle the problem, Eduwatch recommends installing solar powered CCTV cameras in examination halls, with footage accompanying scripts sent to WAEC. A good CCTV camera costs about $3,000 to $4,000, Asare noted.
He also called for exam integrity performance indicators for headmasters, where any detected malpractice would be tied to their performance evaluations.
Asare clarified that Eduwatch does not believe WAEC’s results are entirely unreliable, but the integrity of the system remains scarred by widespread malpractice and under supervision. The systemic drivers of malpractice, including poor supervision, underfunding, and unrealistic expectations, must be fixed, he stressed.
On a separate issue, Asare commented on Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu’s recent remarks on student hairstyles, stating there is no new ban on long hair. The regulation has existed for decades, and uniformity is crucial in managing large schools, he said.
