A significant obstacle
has been identified by the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate
Examination (WASSCE) results. Over half of the pupils that appeared for the
exam failed Core Mathematics. This is the worst performance in the subject in
seven years, and it is not a minor decline.
Let us examine the
figures: 461,736 applicants in all took the test. Regretfully, 220,008 of them
did not pass the Core Mathematics exam. When we look at the passing grades (A1
to C6), just 48.73% of candidates achieved them. This is a steep decline down
from the 66.86% pass rate achieved just one year earlier in 2024. That is a
performance decline of about eighteen percentage points. The data given by WAEC
demonstrates the seriousness of the situation. A startling 114,872 applicants
received an F9, meaning they failed the course entirely.
John Kapi, the Head of Public
Relations at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), stepped forward to
explain this dramatic fall. He highlighted that the bad results are not because
the questions were suddenly outside the curriculum. Rather, he identifies seven
areas in which pupils had severe difficulties. In essence, these are skill gaps
that require quick treatment.
What were these difficult
areas? Students had problems with extremely practical skills. They have trouble
converting verbal problems into mathematical equations and using diagrams to
describe mathematical facts. Additionally, they struggled to handle global
math-related problems and simple interest applications. Additionally, a lot of
candidates struggled with creating cumulative frequency tables, analyzing data,
and drawing conclusions from real-world issues.
The chief examiners
identified these flaws, Mr. Kapi underlined. The good news is that these are
not new topics. This just informs us that there’s a significant need for
teachers to enhance their attention on teaching practical, real-world
problem-solving abilities. Additionally, it implies that students should
concentrate more on comprehending how to apply the arithmetic they study rather
than mindless memorizing. The challenge is evident, and now the attention must
move to rectifying these significant ability gaps for the next batch of pupils.
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