Ghana recorded its lowest Core Mathematics pass rate in four years as only 48.73 percent of candidates achieved grades A1 to C6 in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, down from 66.86 percent in 2024, raising urgent concerns about workforce readiness and systemic failures in secondary education. President John Mahama has ordered a comprehensive investigation into what he described as mind boggling results that threaten national development goals.
The West African Examinations Council released provisional results on November 29, 2025, showing 209,068 candidates passed Core Mathematics with A1 to C6 grades, representing a decline of more than 96,000 passes compared to the previous year. A total of 114,872 candidates, or 26.77 percent, failed the subject outright with F9 grades, nearly quadrupling from 6.1 percent in 2024. The results mark the poorest Mathematics performance in the four year data period analyzed by WAEC from 2022 to 2025.
Social Studies also experienced significant decline, with only 55.82 percent of candidates passing with grades A1 to C6, down from 71.53 percent in 2024. A total of 122,449 candidates, representing 27.50 percent, failed Social Studies, almost tripling from 9.55 percent the previous year. English Language and Integrated Science recorded moderate declines but remained relatively stable, according to WAEC data.
WAEC Head of Public Relations John Kapi emphasized the decline stems from candidate weaknesses rather than exam difficulty. Chief examiners reported the 2025 Core Mathematics paper matched previous year standards, indicating performance gaps reflect inadequate preparation and skill development. He identified seven main areas where students struggled, including representing mathematical information in diagrams, solving real world mathematics problems, constructing and interpreting cumulative frequency tables, dealing with simple interest calculations, translating word problems into algebraic expressions, and interpreting results from data sets.
For Social Studies, chief examiners identified gaps in candidates’ understanding and analytical skills, particularly in explaining government policies, analyzing the economic impact of costly funerals, and discussing Ghana’s cooperation with United Nations agencies. The deficiencies raise concerns about civic literacy and social awareness among young Ghanaians leaving secondary school.
President Mahama at the launch of the STEMBox initiative for primary schools expressed serious concern over the sharp decline. He directed Education Minister Haruna Iddrisu to conduct a thorough review of examiners’ reports to identify factors behind the significant drop. The President questioned how one batch could perform so poorly compared to the previous cohort with the same teachers and conditions, calling the results mind boggling and an issue of great concern to government, parents and the public.
The results also revealed widespread examination malpractice. The Ghana Examinations Committee at its 40th meeting on November 17, 2025, approved cancellation of subject results for 6,295 candidates who brought foreign materials including notes, textbooks and printed materials into examination halls. WAEC cancelled entire results for 653 candidates found possessing mobile phones during the examination. Additionally, 908 candidates had subject results withheld and 158 had entire results withheld pending further investigation.
Education personnel faced severe consequences for involvement in irregularities. Thirty five education personnel including 19 teachers were found complicit in examination irregularities, with 19 persons already convicted with fines or imprisonment and 16 persons awaiting court presentation. WAEC will forward convicted teachers’ names to the Ghana Education Service Director General for additional disciplinary measures.
The government and Ghana Education Service implemented a zero tolerance stance on cheating ahead of the 2025 examinations following years of systemic malpractice. Invigilators and supervisors received warnings of immediate dismissal if found aiding malpractice, while candidates were urged to rely on their preparation rather than leaked materials. The crackdown appears to have exposed the true extent of learning deficits previously masked by widespread cheating.
Between 2017 and 2024, WAEC data showed Ghana’s WASSCE results were plagued by systemic malpractice. In 2024 alone, over 532,000 subject results were withheld and nearly 39,000 cancelled, with hundreds of entire results annulled annually. Common infractions during this period included collusion, smuggling of foreign materials, impersonation, and digital leaks via social media platforms including WhatsApp and Telegram.
Education analysts warn the decline threatens Ghana’s future workforce. Weak mathematics competence undermines the pool of individuals suited for science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, technical jobs and data driven positions. The drop in civic and social studies performance threatens to erode civic literacy, critical thinking and social awareness essential for democratic participation and social cohesion.
Ashesi University Founder and President Patrick Awuah has emphasized that modern labor markets depend heavily on thinking capacity rather than credentials alone. Employers need graduates who can think, reason and take initiative rather than requiring constant direction. If current trends continue, Ghana could see a generation entering industry and public service with serious deficits in numeracy, reasoning and civic competence, undermining productivity, innovation capacity and national development goals.
Experts are calling for urgent systemic reforms beyond tweaking exams or invigilation. Improving outcomes will require strengthening foundational schooling conditions including better teacher preparation, improved contact hours, smaller class sizes, effective curriculum delivery and support for practical and applied learning. Policy makers face pressure to shift from an exam output mindset to competency based education emphasizing real understanding, critical thinking, problem solving and civic awareness.
A total of 461,736 candidates comprising 207,415 males and 254,321 females from 1,021 schools registered for the 2025 examination. Candidates can access results online at the Council’s website, www.waecgh.org. WAEC cautioned stakeholders to ignore fraudsters who promise to upgrade results for fees, noting that results are secured and can only be authenticated using its official verification system.
