‘’… So that it is not only the rich that goes to boarding; there are new ways… let us review our educational system. Prof Stephen Adei
Teacher, an ‘in loco parentis’ we were taught at a Training College to be responsible for the children in our care, the ‘discipulae’ (discipulus-male; discipula-female).
With permission granted by our great friend and brother, I.K. Gyasi, former headmaster of Ahmadiyya Senior High School, Kumasi, we make bold to say, we boarded Agege train in 1981 returning as returnees, not as deportees in 1984 (as other Ghanaians, as Nigerians are wont to call us). ‘We returned to our places, these Kingdoms…’’ T.S. Eliot would say in the ‘Journey of the Magi’. We took up other professions, but we could not let go, the teacher in us! Not to the classroom, but as ‘examiners’.
And the instructions to the examiners were stiff. English Language; For Essays focus on specific criteria for each section: Content and ideas (40%); Organisation and Structure (30%); Language use (30%). Reward clarity, originality, coherence. For summary writing: deduct ½ a mark for each grammatical error; deduct 1 mark for irrelevant or extraneous material. Half marks are awarded when a correct answer is not written as a complete sentence; verbatim copying or lifting from the passage, give zero marks, mark up to the number of sentences.
Then our educational system of 5 years O-Level and 2 years 6th Form to enter 3-year University was abolished. Now, from the Junior High School, the students go to Senior High School, for four (4) years… Then three (3) years SHS! Then, we assess the period to be, rather, two-and-a-half years! Using students as political chess? What do our politicians want? From 2017, the books we had got published were returned from the schools: where we had L.A. ( √ ) NOT
L.A ( x )- two full stops; S.D.A. (√ ) NOT S.D.A (x )-three full stops; wrong to say, All protocols observed when you haven’t gone through all the protocols of a particular meeting. One week observance (√) NOT one week observation (x). Prof. S.E Anku would write; ‘We need to make students see the relevance and the interconnectedness of the subjects they study… These days, there are many things competing for the time and mind of students.
Pornography, occultism, cocaine usage, gayism, lesbianism, alcohol usage, Valentine’s Day celebrations, shit bombing of classrooms and the like have all crept into the school system and are taking quality time away from students; time that they need to study and appreciate the beauty of school subjects.
‘Prof Anku reminds us of how we were haunted at the Maths class, just because our class teacher would write on the board: ‘Mathematics is a monster’. He reminds us rather to recall what in another class; the Maths teacher would on hearing the yapping sound of mating vultures would hint (quietly). ‘These vultures like enjoying themselves’-we would burst into a giggle and that would liven the dreary of the class again!
WAEC has binding rules guiding the examination and this year, 2025, was no exception; Prohibited are malpractices like cheating and using unauthorized materials including mobile phones in the examination hall. Also forbidden are; collusion, that is, talking to or passing notes to another candidate or giving or receiving help; stealing, substituting or altering any candidate’s script or examination results.
We are told that in two weeks’ time, the Chief Examiners Report will be published. Mr. John Kapi, the head of WAEC’s Public Affairs, says so but we have received snippets. The WAEC had cancelled the entire results of 653 candidates who sat for 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for possessing mobile phones in the examination hall.
The results of 6,295 have been cancelled for candidates entering the examination hall with foreign materials including textbooks, printed materials and prepared notes. Being withheld are the results of 908 students and 158 candidates for various offenses. For their roles in acts that compromised the integrity of the examination, 19 people, mostly teachers out of 35 have been arrested and convicted to fines or terms of improvement.
Mr. John Kapi intimated. ‘Beyond what the courts may decide, the list of teachers will be presented to the Director-General of the Ghana Education Service for further disciplinary action’’.
WAEC announces that a total number of 461, 736 candidates made up of 207,415 males and 254,321 females from 1,021 schools registered for the examination. People are talking, complaining about this year’s results, as compared with those of the immediate past years; English Language, 289,673 (60%) of the candidates score between A1-C6; others had (8.18%) 37,712… For Mathematics 209,068 (57.74%) scored A1-C6…For Social Studies 248,538 (55.82%) had A1-C6… And a whole number of 122,449 (27.5%) had F9 (Fail).
There has been great public outcry over these results. Some people argue that the invigilation had been tougher this time than it has been compared with the recent past. What political gain did any politician want to achieve? Success of the free SHS-The percentage of those who had A1 to C6 this year falls below that of 2022, 2023, 2024.
English Language, 60.39% (2025); 73.11% (2023); 69.52% (2024). Core Maths 61.39% had A1-C6(2022); 62.23% (2023); 66.86% (2024), dropping to 57.74% (2025). Social Studies tells a damnable story, 71.51% (2022); 76.76% (2023), 71.53% (2024) dropping to 55.82% (2025).
According to Dr. Lydia Anowa Nyarko Danquah, Director of Academic Affairs of the University of Ghana, the application portal was to close on Tuesday, December2, 2025 at 5pm! After which date https//admissions.ug.edu.gh/undergraduate/cut-off would not be useful again (with their full name, date of birth, examination records, being index number, exam month and exam year) no longer necessary!
Besides Article 25, the educational objectives of state policy states in Article 38 (2)… The provision of free, compulsory and universal basic education. (3) The state shall subject to the availability of resources, provide-(a) equal and balanced access to secondary and other appropriate pre-university or equivalent education with emphasis on science and technology.
The president of the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Angel Carbonu, has condemned the ‘‘double-track system’’ as a major factor for the massive failure this year. ‘‘The double-track system this year is hugely to blame for the poor performance we are seeing this year. Students go to school for a few weeks and then have to go home because another group has to take over. Where do we run our education like this? We haven’t created an environment where a child knows exactly when school starts and ends, even during holidays.
This uncertainty affects learning outcomes’’.
Carbonu sums it all up. ‘‘We have to blame ourselves as a country (emphasis ours). If children go to school for only a few weeks or months due to the double-track system, this is exactly what we should expect in their results’’.
Rev Owusu, President of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) says, ‘We must stop the blame game and work together to fix the system. Government has its role, parents have their role. Excessive politicization is hurting education.’
Rev. Owusu also called for the reactivation of PTA’s, and he could not understand why parents who are willing and able to support schools should be discouraged.
Let’s sit and re-think our educational policy again- not NPP-NDC tug-of-war, Should we not re-think the period of education? Re-think the core-subjects (English and Maths for what?)
Ideas, suggestions… are assailing us. We pause for now.
By Africanus Owusu-Ansah
africanusoa@gmail.com
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