WAEC report flags poor application skills as 2025 WASSCE results hit four-year low

The Chief Examiners’ report on the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) has identified weak application of knowledge by candidates as a major factor behind the poor results recorded nationwide.

Data released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) show that performance across all four core subjects declined sharply, marking the weakest outcome in the last four years.

The report points to widespread difficulty among candidates in handling questions that required practical application rather than rote recall.

Speaking on Edutalk on Joy News, Minister for Education Haruna Iddrisu explained that although many students appeared to have studied the syllabus content, they struggled to translate that knowledge into answers during the examination.

“From the examiners’ report, it is clear that a large number of learners have challenges with application,” Mr Iddrisu said. “They memorised concepts, but the questions this year tested how well they could apply what they had learned.”

He described the findings as a wake-up call for the education sector and urged policymakers, school authorities, teachers, and parents to work together to strengthen the quality of teaching and learning at the secondary level.

“We must collectively commit to improving the delivery of quality secondary education if we want to see better outcomes,” the minister stressed.

The concerns were echoed by Dr Peter Anti, Executive Director of the Institute for Education Studies, who highlighted the structure of the examination questions as a key hurdle for many students, particularly in Core Mathematics.

Speaking on the JoyNews Desk, Dr Anti noted that candidates struggled because many questions were presented in word form rather than straightforward numerical expressions.

“Based on feedback from core mathematics teachers, students found the worded questions challenging,” he explained. “They had to read, interpret, and then apply basic principles such as indices or trigonometry before arriving at an answer.”

According to him, this additional layer of comprehension exposed gaps in students’ problem-solving and critical-thinking skills, which ultimately affected their performance.

The findings have reignited debate about teaching methods in Ghana’s secondary schools, with education experts calling for a stronger focus on critical thinking, comprehension, and real-life application rather than memorisation alone.