President John Dramani Mahama has linked the significant drop in performance in the most recent WASSCE to years of neglect in the basic education sector.
During the launch of the STEMBox initiative aimed at primary schools, he indicated that the unsatisfactory results highlight serious deficiencies in foundational learning, which have been exacerbated by ongoing delays in the disbursement of the capitation grant and the failure to ensure quality teaching at the basic education level.
Mahama emphasised that a solid foundation is crucial for the progression of learners, cautioning that students who lack essential skills are merely advanced through the system without the necessary competencies to thrive.
“This underscores the importance of foundational learning. One of the significant issues that has arisen over the past several years is the neglect of basic education. The failure to provide the capitation grant and to ensure that we have quality teachers at the foundational or basic level is concerning.
“This level is what prepares children for secondary and tertiary education, and if it is not addressed properly, children will be moved through the system like products on a conveyor belt, only to be filtered out at the end by quality control, revealing that they did not perform well. Therefore, our focus must be on foundational learning.”
He characterised the situation as a serious issue for the government, parents, and the broader community.
Mahama disclosed that he has instructed the Minister of Education to carry out a comprehensive analysis of the examiners’ report to ascertain the reasons behind the significant decline in performance, particularly since the same teachers and conditions were present.
“This has become a matter of significant concern for the government, parents, and the general public. I spoke with the minister and requested that they analyse the examiner’s report to understand what could have gone so drastically wrong.
It is astonishing that, despite having the same teachers and identical factors at play from one group to the next, one group performs so poorly, and we must investigate the reasons behind this discrepancy.
