Former Dean at Academic City University College, Professor Enoch Opoku Antwi, has raised concerns about Ghana’s current education assessment structure, describing the widely used “40% continuous assessment, 60% final examinations” model as a questionable approach to measuring true learning outcomes.

Speaking on The Career Trail Season 4 on Joy Learning TV and Joy News, he said the model often rewards memorisation over genuine understanding, adding that students are frequently assessed based on recall rather than competence.

“You have a situation here in Ghana where continuous assessment is 40% for the whole semester, and then your examinations are 60%. So if, on the day you are writing the examinations, you are ill, or anything happens to you, you fail. I mean, how?” he submitted.

“This approach encourages memorisation rather than understanding, with many students simply doing ‘chew, pour, pass, and then forget everything,’” he added.

He argued that in more advanced education systems, continuous assessment carries more weight because it reflects discipline, consistency and work habits.

“There, the examinations are just 20%. Coming to class alone gives you more points than the final examination,” he highlighted.

He contrasted Ghana’s model with more interactive systems abroad, where students are actively involved in the learning process because continuous assessment carries greater weight.

“In the advanced world, learning is not for consumption; it is for creation. If I define leadership and you define the same thing from my book, what have we done? Nothing. But when you begin to analyse, synthesise and create something out of what you’ve learnt, then learning has taken place,” he explained.

“So it’s not about the professor telling students what they don’t know. If, for instance, a professor is teaching leadership, he or she doesn’t define governance and bad governance and end there. Rather, the professor groups students together, allows them to debate, analyse and propose solutions. It’s about making learning the students’ own experience,” he further elaborated.

He highlighted that this approach in advanced education systems explains why many global technology and innovation companies originate there.

“That is why companies like Google, Amazon and Facebook come from America, because of the way they are taught. Students are made to analyse, synthesise and apply knowledge to solve problems,” he said.

Prof. Antwi urged Ghana’s education system to evolve in a way that prioritises creativity, discipline and values alongside academic performance, reiterating that true education must go beyond examinations to shape responsible and innovative individuals.