Director of Policy, Advocacy and Engagement at CDD-Ghana, Dr. Kojo Asante, has called for a nationwide reorientation of parents, students and school systems to address what he describes as a deepening integrity crisis surrounding the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
His comments follow the sharp decline recorded in this year’s WASSCE. The 2025 results show one of the steepest drops in recent years, with A1–C6 passes in Core Mathematics falling from 305,132 in 2024 to 209,068 in 2025. The overall pass rate stood at 48.73%, leaving more than half of candidates below the threshold required for tertiary admission.
Speaking on Channel One TV’s Big Issue on Saturday, December 6, Dr. Asante said the country cannot fix the recurring decline in WASSCE performance without first confronting a culture that normalises examination malpractice.
He explained that parental involvement in cheating has become so widespread that it now shapes how students largely approach examinations. According to him, parents—often working through schools or local networks—actively facilitate cheating, creating a false expectation that students can pass without adequate preparation.
Dr. Asante warned that this mindset has become embedded in communities over time, encouraging candidates to rely on leaked questions or illegal assistance rather than building genuine academic competence.
“The integrity of WASSCE is one of the biggest challenges in the country. It has become so widespread that parents themselves have become major perpetrators, working through schools in certain areas to support students to cheat in order to pass their exams. There has to be active engagement with PTAs and the entire education system to reorient people on the importance of examination integrity,” he said.
