EduWatch reacts to Akufo-Addo’s claim on WASSCE results

Education think tank – Africa Education Watch (EduWatch) after President Akufo-Addo said this year’s WASSCE results are the best in the last 8 years has said it welcomes students’ improvement in English, Mathematics and Social Studies.

Executive Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare in a post sighted by AcademicWeek said “I welcome the WASSCE improvements in English, Math and Social Studies, the decline in Core Science, and appreciate the source.”

The Director added that “I think one of the ways to scientifically test the value addition of Free SHS to quality learning outcomes is in a tracer study on the number of students who scored between aggregate 36 and 51 at BECE.”

His comment comes after His Excellency in his address at the 70th Anniversary of Opoku Ware School said the excellent performance of students who sat for the just-ended WASSCE is a result of the Free Senior High School policy.

“6 years on following the implementation of the Free SHS policy, which has guaranteed SHS education for 1.7 million children I can state, without equivocation, that I am very proud of the policy and of its results thus far,” Nana stated.

The President noted that the 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination results of the third batch of the “Akufo-Addo graduates” shows 60.39% of students recording A1-C6 in English, as opposed to 51.6% in 2016.

In Integrated Science, Mr Nana Addo Dankwa noted that 62.45% recorded A1-C6 in Integrated Science in 2022, as opposed to 48.35% in 2016, with the 2022 result being a slight regression from the 2021 pass rate of 65.70%.

President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo added that 61.39% of students recorded A1-C6 in Mathematics, as compared to 33.12% in 2016; and 71.51% recorded A1-C6 in Social Studies, as compared to 54.55% in 2016.

“Lest we forget, the 2021 batch of students, who also obtained very commendable results, were the pioneers of the double track system, which elicited a lot of vilification and unfounded criticism on its introduction,” he said.

His Excellency continued, “the 2022 results are the best of the last eight (8) years. Surely, there can no longer be any controversy about the validity of the Free SHS policy and its consequential measures. It is working and working well

The government has devoted even more resources to the running of the Free SHS policy. From a budget of GH¢2.3 billion in 2022, a 28.6% increase has been applied to this year’s budget for Free SHS, i.e., GH¢2.96 billion.”