Nana Akufo-Addo and John Mahama
President Nana Akufo-Addo has dismissed as “misguided and unfortunate sentiments” comments made by former President and current National Democratic Congress (NDC) flagbearer, John Dramani Mahama that students were permitted to cheat in the 2023 West Africa Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Mr. Mahama, during one of his “Building Ghana Tours,” questioned the integrity of the results, claiming, “In many places, they let the children cheat. You go to places and the teachers are conniving with the students to cheat. The effect will be seen later.”
However, at the 187th Speech and Prize-giving Day of the Wesley Girls’ High School in Cape Coast, President Akufo-Addo stated that it is unfortunate that politics has caused supposed responsible persons such as ex-President Mahama to question the progress in learning outcomes at the Senior High Schools.
“It is a pity though that the sad nature of aspects of contemporary Ghanaian politics drove some otherwise allegedly responsible people including your former President and current NDC presidential candidate to question the integrity of the results happily without any foundation and to attribute these results to cheating,” the President stressed.
According to him, the 2023 result, which is the best since 2015, is indicative of the quality of education provided by the Free Senior High School (SHS) programme, rather than cheating.
President Akufo-Addo described Mahama’s criticism as unfounded, and expressed concern that politics had forced the NDC flagbearer to play to the gallery.
He praised the “Akufo-Addo graduates,” saying that from 2020 to 2023, more than half of candidates obtained grades A1 to C6 in all core subjects, which is an indication of a significant improvement in the quality of education.
“Students of Wesley Girls High School, do you cheat in examinations?” he quizzed, and the students shouted, “NO.”
“This loud no will send a strong message to those who expressed these unfortunate, misguided sentiments,” the President added.
“The WASSCE results of the students I proudly call the Akufo-Addo graduates have shown that the quality of education has not deteriorated but on the contrary, it has improved significantly.
“The results of the Akufo-Addo graduates in 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023 are the only years in the past decade that show that more than 50% of the candidates obtained A1 to C6 in all core subjects,” he emphasised.
By Ernest Kofi Adu