The 2024 Presidential Candidate of the Progressive Alliance of Ghana (PAG), Dr John Kpikpi, says this year’s poor WASSCE results reflect the true state of the education system after years of examination malpractice masked the real performance of students.

Speaking on Metro TV’s Good Afternoon Ghana, he said the latest outcomes, which have triggered a national debate, should not surprise anyone familiar with the entrenched malpractices in many schools.

He argued that Ghana has for years been “misled” into believing students were performing better than they actually were.

According to him, many parents knowingly pay illegal fees, while some teachers and school authorities work with invigilators to influence exam outcomes.

He said such unethical practices have become so widespread that they have created a false sense of academic achievement.

Dr Kpikpi commended the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) for what appears to be a renewed clampdown on cheating this year, which he believes has exposed the real picture of student performance.

He urged stakeholders not to focus solely on the drop in results but to confront the uncomfortable truths revealed by stricter supervision.

He said the nation must use this as a turning point to fix deeper problems in the education sector.

“I wonder whether these results we’ve seen now are actually the real results that we shall be receiving all these years, but they have been masked by serious exam malpractice, which is entrenched and practised across this country.

"In most schools, parents happily pay money, and schools receive money from parents to buy invigilators. In fact, it has become the norm.

"It looks like this year WAEC found a way to dig in and tackle all of these, and the result is what is coming out without the mask on it,” he said.