The Head of the Centre for Ageing Studies at the University of Ghana, Prof. Joseph Osafo Adu, has called for a complete overhaul of Ghana’s high-stakes examination system, describing the current West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) structure as unfair, outdated, and harmful to students.
Reacting to the disappointing 2025 WASSCE results, Prof. Osafo Adu who is also a trained Clinical Psychologist and Suicidologist, stressed that Ghana must move away from a system that places the entire future of SHS students on a single final-year exam.
“It is my personal view. I am a product of this system, and I know the challenges it has presented over the years,” he said. “Waiting to compile three years’ worth of learning into one exam that determines the next move of the child must be stopped.”
He argued that no credible educational system operates this way, not even Ghanaian universities, where students are assessed continuously. “The university does not do that. We assess students at every level. This is not how other nations assess their children. Yet this is the future we are treating so lightly.”
Prof. Osafo Adu recommended a more holistic approach to student evaluation, proposing that the final WASSCE paper should contribute only 30% of a student’s total score, instead of the current 70%.
He also highlighted the psychological pressure that comes with high-stakes exams. “In an examination hall, there is something like test anxiety, which can cause even brilliant students to fail,” he noted. He explained that at the university level, lecturers use examination modulation to analyse why students excel in some assessments and struggle in others, helping educators better understand students’ true potential.
Additionally, lecturers subject their exam questions to peer review to ensure clarity and fairness, another policy he believes the second-cycle level should adopt.
Prof. Osafo Adu concluded by urging policymakers to reconsider the “do-or-die” nature of SHS exit examinations, warning that the current system is detrimental to students and does not reflect global best practices.
