Minority Leader Alexander Afenyo-Markin has warned that Ghana’s education system could leave thousands of young people without meaningful opportunities for further education or skills development unless urgent measures are taken to address emerging challenges in examination performance and school placement.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said recent West African Examinations Council (WAEC) and Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) outcomes pointed to weaknesses that required immediate national attention rather than partisan debate.
He expressed particular concern about the performance of candidates in Core Mathematics and English Language, citing figures showing that 183,233 candidates completed senior high school without obtaining a credit in Core Mathematics.
He also noted that the credit pass rate in English Language had fallen to 62.40%, which he described as the lowest level recorded in four years.
According to the Minority Leader, the decline in performance compared with 2024 should prompt a broader assessment of teaching quality, instructional time, learning materials, teacher motivation and the effectiveness of remedial interventions in schools.
Mr Afenyo-Markin also drew attention to difficulties surrounding the ongoing BECE school placement exercise, claiming that 54,985 candidates were initially denied automatic placement.
He said reports of students being assigned to special schools despite not requiring such facilities, as well as candidates arriving at schools only to discover that there was no space, raised questions about the effectiveness of the placement process.
The Minority Leader questioned how such difficulties could occur when government figures indicate 859,828 vacancies for 623,072 BECE candidates.
He argued that the availability of vacancies in official statistics must translate into actual classrooms and seats for students, stressing that access to a self-placement platform should not be confused with securing a place in a functioning school.
“A self-placement portal is not a school place; every child needs an actual seat in a functioning classroom,” he said.
Mr Afenyo-Markin said the combination of the placement challenges and WASSCE performance meant that more than 200,000 young people could potentially require attention at different stages of the secondary education system.
He therefore called on the government to publish the final placement outcomes and clearly explain the rules and pass marks being applied in the process to ease uncertainty among parents and candidates.
He further urged the government to increase funding for teaching and remedial programmes while expanding alternative educational pathways for students who do not secure the required WASSCE credits.
These, he said, should include technical and vocational education and training (TVET), apprenticeships and other skills-development opportunities that can equip young people for employment and entrepreneurship.
The Minority Leader also defended education initiatives implemented under the previous NPP administration, including the expansion of Free Senior High School, Free TVET, apprenticeship and skills-development programmes.
He argued that the objective of such interventions was to ensure that financial difficulties or examination results did not permanently shut young people out of opportunities to acquire education or employable skills.
Mr Afenyo-Markin called for an “honest and non-partisan” national conversation on the state of education, covering funding, teaching quality, instructional contact hours, teacher motivation, learning materials, infrastructure and supervision.
“This must rise above partisan excuses because the future of an entire generation is at stake,” he stressed.
He said the immediate concerns of parents, students and teachers should be addressed while the country develops longer-term reforms to strengthen educational outcomes.
“When the education system is in crisis, Ghana’s future is also at risk,” he warned.
