BY GRACE ZIGAH
President John Dramani Mahama has delivered a blunt assessment of Ghana’s 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, declaring that the latest performance figures are finally giving the country a clearer picture of students’ actual academic abilities after a significant reduction in examination malpractice.
The President said the improved examination controls had exposed what he described as the “true results” of Ghanaian students, suggesting that some candidates who previously recorded stronger grades may have benefited from assistance that did not accurately reflect their individual level of preparation.
Mahama made the comments on Saturday, September 12, 2026, during a citizens’ engagement at the University of Business and Integrated Development Studies in the Upper West Region as part of his ongoing Resetting Ghana Tour.
According to the President, the major change in the 2026 examination was the strengthening of invigilation, which he said helped curb the widespread cheating that had undermined the credibility of previous examinations.
“One thing that I’m happy and proud of is that we’re seeing our children’s true results,” Mahama said.
He explained that stronger supervision had made it more difficult for candidates to receive unauthorised assistance during the examination process.
“And so today we’re seeing the real results of our children because invigilation has improved and the mass cheating in exams you know has been curtailed,” he added.
Students Must Earn Their Grades
The President’s comments amounted to a strong message to students, teachers and school authorities that examination results must reflect genuine learning rather than assistance obtained during examinations.
Mahama insisted that students must earn their grades through preparation, discipline and actual academic work.
His argument is that examination malpractice does more than compromise the integrity of a particular examination. It can also create a dangerous illusion of academic success, allowing students to progress to higher levels of education with grades that do not correspond to the skills and knowledge they have acquired.
The President accused some head teachers and other officials in the past of allegedly conniving with candidates to facilitate cheating during examinations.
According to him, such practices had enabled some students to obtain results that did not accurately represent their academic abilities.
The consequence, he suggested, was that some students proceeded to higher levels of education without the foundational knowledge required to cope with more demanding academic work.
Mathematics Performance Under the Spotlight
Mahama said the 2026 WASSCE results showed improvements in a number of subjects, including Mathematics and Social Studies, although he acknowledged that there had been a slight decline in Social Studies which the government was investigating.
The President’s remarks come amid long-running concerns about academic performance in Ghana, particularly in Mathematics and other subjects considered critical to the country’s human-capital development.
Rather than interpreting examination results solely through pass and fail statistics, Mahama’s comments focused on the credibility of the process through which the grades were obtained.
His position is that a lower or more difficult result obtained under stricter examination conditions may provide more useful information about students’ actual preparedness than an artificially inflated result produced through malpractice.
The Cost of Allowing Students to Cheat
The President’s criticism also highlights the wider consequences of examination malpractice for Ghana’s education system.
When students obtain grades through unauthorised assistance, the problem does not necessarily end when the examination is over.
Students may use those results to gain admission to senior high schools, universities, colleges and professional programmes for which they may not have the necessary academic foundation.
Once admitted, they can struggle to understand more advanced concepts because the knowledge gaps that should have been identified earlier were concealed by examination malpractice.
This can create additional pressure on teachers and tertiary institutions while ultimately weakening the quality of human capital.
Mahama therefore presented the tightening of examination supervision as an important step towards establishing a more credible education system.
