The Minority in Parliament has launched a blistering attack on the Ghana Education Service (GES) over its response to the sharp decline in the 2025 WASSCE results, describing the Service’s justification as “embarrassing and troubling.”

In a statement issued on Wednesday, December 3, the caucus said it was “shocked and disappointed” by the poor performance released by the West African Examinations Council.

The Minority pointed to steep drops across all four core subjects, noting: “Taking a critical look at the core subjects of English language, Mathematics, Integrated Science and Social Studies, you see a decline in the performance of the candidates as compared to that of 2024.”

They argued that the fall was most alarming in Mathematics. According to the statement, “What is even more troubling is the sharp and marked decline in the mathematics result that had seen a consistent improvement in performance from 2022 to 2024.”

The minority stressed that the drop from 66.86% in 2024 to 48.73% in 2025 was “therefore an unfortunate and unacceptable outcome that needs to be examined and rectified.”

The group contrasted the current results with those recorded under the previous administration.

“Since forming the government in 2017, the New Patriotic Party government ensured, through pragmatic policies, interventions, quality teaching and learning, the improvement in learning outcomes among our learners.”

They noted that in 2016, performance in Mathematics was 33.12% and English was 51.6%, adding that the improvements recorded up to 2024 reflected “a strong foundation laid by the Nana-Addo-Bawumia-led government.”

To the Minority, the 2025 outcome signals a backward slide. “They have begun on a wrong note,” the caucus said, insisting that the new government must “admit their failure, find appropriate remedies and ensure better performance outcomes moving forward.”

The strongest criticism was directed at the Ghana Education Service over its December 1 statement that sought to explain the results.

The Minority dismissed the GES’ attempt to attribute performance to candidates’ competencies and heightened supervision.

“The Ghana Education Service’s release… seeking to justify and rationalise the poor performance of the candidates, especially attributing it to the candidates’ natural abilities and enhanced invigilation, is embarrassing and troubling.”

They questioned the basis of the GES’ explanation, asking: “How do you come to that conclusion when you have not even examined the Chief examiners’ reports in the subject areas?”

They described the attempt to fault students instead of examining “internal practices and interventions” as “unprofessional and unethical.”

The Minority also found the GES claim about strict supervision problematic. They quoted the statement which said strict adherence to protocols “led to apprehension among some students and staff who would have engaged in examination malpractices,” asking pointedly: “Could it be a reason of the poor performance?”

They maintained that invigilation “should not, and must not put fear in the candidates since the inducement of fear…can have a negative and egregious effect on their performance.”

The caucus criticised the GES for failing to mention any other learning variables, saying: “Is it not curious and strange that the GES could not mention, apart from invigilation, other variables that promote learning performance outcomes?” They added, “This is sad.”

Concluding, the Minority said the performance was “discouraging, troubling and unacceptable” and demanded urgent action from the Ministry of Education and the GES to “reverse this tide” and provide leadership “that accepts responsibility and not to engage in blame games.”