WASSCE results proof educational standards have not fallen – MoE

Citing the excellent results of Senior High School (SHS) students who sat for the 2023 WASSCE, the Minister for Education, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum says their performance indicates the country’s educational standards have not fallen.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews monitored by Thisterm.com, the Education Minister said it was also a testament to the hard work put in by headmasters, teachers and students of various Senior High schools to produce such results.

Dr Adutwum said this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for School results were the best since 2015 and the introduction of the Free Senior High School programme in the 2017 academic year.

The Minister in Charge of Education said Ghana could win the war against poverty through a robust educational system that not only guaranteed access but enhanced quality and relevance to the needs of the country.

“It is known around the world that education outcomes decrease when enrolment increases. But in the case of Ghana, what did we do differently? When Ghana doubled enrolment, we automatically also doubled class sizes but unlike other countries, we had excess teachers that could be deployed to handle the doubled class sizes.

In addition, when we improved the learning outcomes, we created a different ecosystem. Whereas before free SHS, students would take two to four weeks to come to school because they were waiting at home looking for money to pay fees, we made it free.

“Therefore, during the first week, they are in school and because of this, they are not missing anything. Consequently, the time on task has improved tremendously in our schools,” the Bosomtwe Member of Parliament explained.

He said the central government was looking at ways to properly resource and fund the students’ loans with no guarantor policy to allow students who due to financial constraints could not enter tertiary institutions.

“We are also aligning when the loans come out with when the students go to school. The student’s loan trust fund will open the portal at the time tertiary schools are receiving admissions so that those who don’t have money can borrow in time to be able to enter tertiary schools and boost the numbers there,” Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum told JoyNews.

The Minister’s comment comes after a West African Examinations Council (WAEC) data indicated this year’s WASSCE results are the best since the inception of the government flagship Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) data indicates that 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023, are the years in more than 50% of Free Senior High School graduates, obtained aggregates A1 to C6 in all core subjects.

The 2023 WASSCE for School data also showed that the 73.11% recorded for the English Language, 66.82% for Integrated Science, and 76,76% for Social Studies in the 2023 examinations is the best on record since 2015.