2022 WASSCE results best in 8 years amid ‘Free SHS policy’ – Govt

His Excellency Akufo-Addo says the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) administered in 2022 is evident the Free Senior High School policy (Free SHS) policy has significantly improved secondary education in the country.

Speaking at an event of Queen Girls Senior High School in the Western North region, President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo emphasised that last year’s WASSCE outcomes were the most impressive in the past eight years.

“The 2022 WASSCE results are the best out of the last eight years,” he asserted, noting: “Surely there can no longer be any controversy about the validity of the Free SHS policy and its consequential measures,” the President said at the event.

President Akufo-Addo announced that 60.39% of students achieved A1-C6 grades in English, a marked improvement from 51.6% in 2016. Similarly, in Integrated Science, the 2022 results showed 62.45% success, up from 48.35% in 2016.

“Mathematics saw 61.39% of students scoring A1-C6 compared to a mere 33.12% in 2016. Social Studies displayed significant progress, with 71.51% of students attaining A1-C6 grades, in contrast to 54.55% in 2016,” he indicated.

The Ghana version of the 2022 WASSCE for School Candidates was administered to four hundred and twenty-two thousand, eight hundred and eighty-three (422,883) candidates from 977 Senior High Schools in the country.

The second-cycle schools were made up of 673 public schools and 304 private schools. The number of public Senior High Schools that presented candidates for this year’s examination increased from 651 in 2021 to 673 in 2022.

A total of seven hundred and seventy-five (775) centres were used for the examination. Sixty (60) subjects, comprising four (4) core and fifty-six (56) electives were made available to prospective candidates to choose from.

The 2022 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) which commenced on Monday, August 1, 2022, with the Visual Art Project Work options and ended on September 27, 2022, with ICT Paper 3 Practical.