WASSCE In Crisis-To-Recovery Mode: AFFED Brief Shows Partial Rebound In Maths And Science But English Plunges To 4-Year Low Of 62.40%

The African Foundation for Educational Development (AFFED) has released a Policy Brief on WASSCE Performance Dynamics, Volatility Analysis, and Assessment Integrity covering the 2024–2026 cycles, to shape policy direction for the examination.

According to the Brief, Ghana's secondary education system demonstrates a "crisis-to-partial-recovery" trend. Following a sharp slump in 2025 across Core Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies, 2026 marked a strong rebound in three core subjects.

However, the recovery is counterbalanced by a continuous structural decline in English Language and an unprecedented escalation in examination malpractice.

*Key Findings:*

*English Language – Worrying Continuous Decline:* English recorded a persistent decline, from 69.52% in 2024 to 69.00% in 2025, before dropping significantly to 62.40% in 2026. This represents a 7.12 percentage point decline from 2024 and a sharp 6.60 point drop between 2025 and 2026 alone. AFFED says this points to weaknesses in reading comprehension, essay organisation, grammar and foundational literacy skills, with wider implications as English is the medium of instruction.

*Core Mathematics – Major but Incomplete Recovery:* Mathematics fell from 66.86% in 2024 to 48.73% in 2025, a drop of 18.13 points, before recovering to 60.75% in 2026, up 12.02 points. The F9 failure rate also dropped from 26.77% to 14.82%. However, performance remains 6.11 points below the 2024 level.

*Integrated Science – Gradual Consolidation:* The subject recorded 58.77% in 2024, 57.74% in 2025 and 62.08% in 2026, rising 3.31 points above its 2024 level.

*Social Studies – Dramatic Turnaround:* Social Studies declined from 71.53% in 2024 to 55.82% in 2025, before rising sharply to 78.04% in 2026, a 22.22 percentage point increase, making it the highest-performing core subject in 2026. AFFED notes the sharp volatility raises questions about test difficulty and marking standards.

*Candidature and Integrity Crisis:*

The Brief notes candidature expanded by 11.07% in 2026 to 512,862 candidates across 1,022 schools, with absenteeism falling to just 0.98%.

At the same time, cases involving foreign materials increased from 4,108 in 2024 to 7,434 in 2026, representing an 81% increase, while mobile phone smuggling rose from 483 to 861 cases, up 78.3%. Schools flagged for collusion, however, declined from 319 in 2024 to 169 in 2026.