In a pointed critique of current educational management, the former Minister for Education, Dr. Yaw Osei Adutwum, has linked the decline in the 2025 WASSCE results to the discontinuation of specific teacher incentives.
Speaking in a series of media interviews in late 2025, Dr. Adutwum argued that the removal of the Academic Intervention Grant—a fund previously used to pay teachers for extra contact hours and remedial classes—stripped schools of the motivation needed to go the extra mile for students.
"The Results Should Not Surprise Anyone"
Dr. Adutwum’s comments, supported by his spokesperson Yaw Opoku Mensah, highlight a shift in how extra classes are handled in public Senior High Schools:
Cancelled Interventions: Dr. Adutwum noted that under his tenure, the government provided direct grants to schools to facilitate extra academic interventions. "Academic Intervention grants disbursed to provide extra academic interventions have been cancelled. WAEC subject-teacher training has been cancelled. So I was not surprised that the 2025 WASSCE results were worse than previous years," his team stated.
The 2025 Performance Drop: The data from the 2025 WASSCE (released in November 2025) showed a significant decline in pass rates (A1-C6) compared to 2024
English: Dropped from 66.9% to 56.7%.
Mathematics: Dropped from 66.8% to 48.7%.
Social Studies: Saw a sharp fall from 71.5% to 55.8%.
Integrity vs. Intervention: While the Ghana Education Service (GES) has argued that the lower results are actually a "true reflection of performance" due to tighter invigilation and fewer malpractices, Dr. Adutwum insists the real cause is the "collapse of academic support systems."
GES Fires Back: "No Allowances Cancelled"
The Ghana Education Service has strongly rejected the former Minister’s claims, describing them as an attempt to shift focus from his own administrative tenure.
Strict Supervision: On December 1, 2025, the GES issued a statement asserting that the 2025 results reflect the "genuine ability" of students without external help or leaked papers. They maintain that the previous "high" results were partly inflated by malpractice.
Payment Delays, Not Cancellations: The GES clarified that while some teacher allowances for November 2025 were delayed due to technical payroll issues at the Controller and Accountant-General’s Department, no intervention programs had been officially "cancelled."
The "Unofficial" Market: Meanwhile, educationists like Prof. Stephen Adei have warned that the cancellation of official grants has forced teachers to charge "unofficial" fees for afternoon classes (sometimes up to GH¢400 per term), creating a gap between students who can pay and those who cannot.
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