Dennis Miracles Aboagye, Aide to former Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia, has called for a shift in the national conversation around the 2025 WASSCE results, urging education stakeholders to focus on identifying the actual factors behind the poor performance rather than attributing it to the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.
He argued that the policy has no bearing on teaching quality or classroom delivery and therefore cannot be blamed for the significant decline in this year’s results.
According to him, teachers continue to use the same instructional methods, and academic structures remain intact, with the only major difference being that students no longer pay school fees.
He urged stakeholders to focus on the technical causes behind the poor outcomes, particularly in Core Mathematics and Social Studies, and find solutions to prevent future occurrences.
“Anybody who says that Free SHS is the reason for these failures is not being intelligent. It is an ill-informed comment and does not hold water. We need to stop politicising this issue.
“Let us identify, technically, what caused the poor performance in these two subjects and find a solution. Let us identify, technically, what contributed to the poor performance and work towards fixing it,” he said.
The 2025 WASSCE recorded one of the steepest drops in recent years. A1–C6 passes in Core Mathematics fell by more than 96,000, dropping from 305,132 in 2024 to 209,068 in 2025. The overall pass rate stood at 48.73%, meaning over half of the candidates did not attain the required grades for tertiary admissions. Nearly one in four candidates failed both Core Mathematics and Social Studies.
Despite the concerning results, the University of Ghana has announced it will maintain its admission cut-off points for the 2025/2026 academic year, raising concerns about how many qualified applicants will secure placement.
