Head of Public Affairs at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi, says the Education Minister’s stern warning to teachers against examination malpractice may have really scared a lot of them, contributing to this year’s sudden drop in WASSCE performance.
According to him, many teachers who previously relied on questionable practices stayed away out of fear of sanctions.
Speaking on TV3 and monitored by NewsDesksGH, John Kapi was reacting to a message from a teacher who claimed that poor performance in the 2025 WASSCE was because teachers could no longer use ‘apor’ to assist students.
The teacher said in the past, they depended on leaked answers to help students secure good grades.
John Kapi agreed with the teacher and explained how such practices have typically occurred in past examinations.
“When they release the questions, people would take a snapshot of it and then post on social media. So just as the examination begins it would have circulated on so many social media platforms.”
“So all the candidates do is to copy from whatever the teachers have brought out to them.”
He added that the teachers that had been caught and are being prosecuted for malpractices in this years examinations were involved in this act.
“You’ll notice that for some of the teachers that were picked up, it is because they had taken snapshots of the questions and posted on social media,”
“So this time around, with the warning from the minister that they will deal ruthlessly with any teacher who engages in examination malpractice, they probably got scared so they stayed away.”
He added that WAEC also intensified supervision this year to ensure candidates worked independently.
“We also deployed a whole lot of monitors, our own staff and other people including GES personnel, just to ensure that the candidates were doing independent work.”
Poor performance in the 2025 WASSCE has sparked nationwide concern.
The West African Examinations Council released the WASSCE provisional results on November 29, showing a significant decline compared to 2024, most especially in the core subjects.
