There is something deeply uncomfortable about the latest Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) figures.
When about 55,000 children complete nine years of basic education yet fail to meet the minimum requirement in English Language or Mathematics, the issue cannot be reduced to individual performance.
These students failed to qualify for placement into second-cycle institutions because they had failed at least one subject.
The question we should be asking is not simply why these children failed.
It is how so many children could spend nine years in basic education and still leave without attaining minimum proficiency in either English or Mathematics.
A failed examination result is an individual outcome.
But when tens of thousands of children experience the same outcome, we must examine the system that taught, assessed and supported them.
The evidence suggests that these difficulties begin much earlier than the BECE.
The 2018 Ghana National Education Assessment showed that only about one in five Primary 4 pupils reached the proficiency benchmark in English and Mathematics.
At Primary 6, the proportions remained low.
The World Bank’s 2019 Ghana Learning Poverty Brief estimated that 80 per cent of Ghanaian children at late-primary age were not proficient in reading.
These findings suggest that foundational learning gaps are developing years before children reach JHS.
Yet our system often becomes most concerned when those gaps finally appear in an examination.
The recent WASSCE results reinforce the concern. In 2025, only 48.73 per cent of candidates obtained A1–C6 in Core Mathematics, compared with 66.86 per cent in 2024.
English Language recorded a 69 per cent pass rate, while Integrated Science fell to 57.74 per cent.
WAEC’s observations of difficulties with interpreting information, translating word problems into mathematical expressions, applying knowledge and making deductions point beyond examination technique to weaknesses in understanding, reasoning and application.
Many public schools are overcrowded and resources are limited, making individual attention difficult.
A child who struggles with reading or numeracy may therefore move from one class to another without receiving the targeted support needed to close the gap.
It is very important for duty bearers to consider: does one examination have the power to capture the full range of a child’s abilities or are we asking a single test to carry the burden of defining a child’s future?
English and Mathematics are undeniably essential.
Every child needs functional literacy and numeracy.
However, children do not possess identical abilities.
Some demonstrate exceptional strengths in science, art, music, technology, practical skills, entrepreneurship, sport, creativity or interpersonal abilities.
A system that places every child into the same narrow examination framework risks confusing academic performance with human potential.
The answer is not to lower standards or remove core subjects.
Rather, we need a broader education system that maintains strong foundational literacy and numeracy while recognising diverse talents and providing credible academic, technical and vocational pathways.
Children who fall behind can make meaningful progress when support is early, structured and sustained.
Move
We, therefore, need to move from an examination-centred system to a learning-centred one.
Children should be assessed regularly from the early years.
Learning gaps should trigger immediate intervention rather than waiting for BECE or WASSCE. Teachers need practical resources, coaching and manageable class sizes.
Success is not merely producing children who can pass an examination.
It is helping children become confident readers, thoughtful problem-solvers, effective communicators, creative thinkers and capable lifelong learners while giving them opportunities to discover and develop their individual strengths.
So, when 55,000 out of 620,000 children fail English or Mathematics, let us ask more than, “Why did they fail?
Let us ask: What did the results reveal about their learning?
When did they begin to fall behind?
Why were they not supported earlier?
An examination failure belongs to a candidate’s record.
But when thousands of children repeatedly fail, the pattern belongs to the system.
And that system deserves our attention.
The writer is a Child development expert/
Fellow of the Zero-To-Three Academy, USA.
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