A New Patriotic Party (NPP) spokesperson has questioned President John Mahama’s performance in office, citing the latest West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results as evidence of what he described as weak policy execution and misleading public communication.
Opoku Mensah Yaw, a spokesperson for former education minister Yaw Osei Adutwum, said the most recent WASSCE outcomes provide a measurable indicator of government effectiveness, arguing the results reflect shortcomings in leadership rather than inherited challenges. He argued the education system had been functioning with relative stability before the change of government and that no major policy shifts had been introduced to justify a decline in outcomes.
“The proper data to assess the president is the just ended WASSCE,” Mensah Yaw said on The Forum programme on Asaase Radio Saturday. “When you compare the 2024 results with the previous year, it becomes clear that those at the helm either do not understand their roles or are not up to the task.”
He added that without changing existing policies and programmes, the system produced worse outcomes, raising serious questions about decision making.
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released provisional 2025 results showing a catastrophic decline in core subject performance. Core Mathematics pass rates fell from 66.86 percent in 2024 to 48.73 percent in 2025, representing an 18.13 percentage point drop. A total of 209,068 candidates achieved A1 to C6 grades, down from 305,132 in 2024, leaving more than half of candidates unable to meet minimum requirements for tertiary education.
Social Studies also experienced significant decline, with only 55.82 percent of candidates passing with A1 to C6 grades, compared to 71.53 percent in 2024. The outright failure rate in Core Mathematics nearly quadrupled, skyrocketing from 6.10 percent in 2024 to 26.77 percent in 2025, meaning nearly one out of every four students who sat for the exam failed the subject outright.
President John Mahama has ordered a full investigation into the sharp decline, describing the results as “mind boggling” and tasking the Minister of Education with conducting a comprehensive assessment to determine the causes. WAEC officials attributed poor performance to persistent weaknesses among candidates, including difficulty applying concepts and solving standard level questions.
Opoku Mensah said the results have direct economic consequences for households, noting more students may now be required to resit examinations privately, increasing financial pressure on families. “Parents will have to pay more for private examinations, which affects their pockets and, ultimately, the local economy,” he said. He described the education outcomes as “abysmal performance” by the current administration when assessed through what he called a universally felt metric.
Mensah Yaw also accused the government of spreading misinformation about teacher recruitment figures, arguing official claims about large scale hiring lacked factual backing. He said records showed about 11,000 qualified applicants were awaiting recruitment into the Ghana Education Service (GES), with only 2,000 absorbed due to limited clearance, and disputed government claims that more than 32,000 teachers had been recruited without authorisation by the previous administration.
“There was no such figure in the handing over notes,” he said. “But once such numbers are repeated, they lodge in the public mind and influence opinion polls.”
Mensah Yaw said similar claims had been made in other sectors, contributing to what he described as distorted public assessment of the president’s performance. “I have never trusted data coming solely from government quarters,” he said. “When you cross check the data available, there is deception in the system, and that is impairing Ghanaians’ ability to assess the president objectively.”
The 2025 examination saw widespread malpractice, with WAEC cancelling results of 6,295 candidates for bringing foreign materials into examination halls and annulling entire results of 653 candidates for mobile phone possession. A total of 35 education personnel, including 19 teachers, were found complicit in examination irregularities, with 19 already convicted and sentenced to fines or imprisonment.
The Parliamentary Minority has also criticized the government over the results, describing them as evidence of “retrogressively resetting education in the country.” The caucus contrasted the 2025 performance with 2016 results when Core Mathematics scored 33.12 percent, arguing the previous NPP government had successfully improved learning outcomes through consistent policy implementation.