Laxity associated with Free SHS has affected learning outcomes – Fmr. GES Director
A former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Charles Aheto-Tsegah, has said the decline in performance of students in this year’s WASSCE, when compared with 2020, can be attributed to the laxity in learning approaches which in turn affected the outcome.
He noted that the free concept associated with policy has led to “the laissez faire attitude when it comes to the way the students approach the examinations.”
He indicated that “there were a lot of administrative issues that affected the whole relationship between teachers and students” which resulted in the low performance of WASSCE candidates in Core Mathematics and English Language.
“The kind of discipline that you and I went through when we were in school cannot be said to be existing in our schools today. Therefore, that laxity itself has been a fantod in terms of the way students learn and the way they approach learning,” he told Benjamin Akakpo.
The West African Examination Council (WAEC), in a press statement announcing the release of the 2021 WASCCE results, revealed that 54.08 per cent of the candidates excelled in English Language compared to 57.34 per cent who passed in 2020.
According to the Council’s Head of Public Affairs, Agnes Teye-Cudjoe, about 65.71 per cent of the candidates excelled in Mathematics last year. The figure, however, declined to 54.11 per cent in 2021.
This implies that over 45 per cent of the candidates who sat for the 2021 WASSCE failed Mathematics and English Language, the two key core subjects, required to secure admission into the university.
