Former Director-General of the Ghana Education Service (GES), Prof. Kwasi Opoku-Amankwa, has defended the decision to reduce student repetition under the Free SHS policy, arguing that the real challenge lies in inadequate diagnostic support from some teachers.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen show, Prof. Opoku-Amankwa rejected claims that Free SHS encourages “wholesale promotions,” insisting that teachers must identify the root causes of a student’s failure rather than simply making them repeat a class.
“There is nothing like wholesale promotions in teaching. When a child fails a class, you might consider having them repeat the same class with the same teacher and lessons. However, have you asked the child why they failed? It’s important to recognize that there is something called differentiated learning. Each student has their own learning style, and we provide targeted instruction because not all children learn the same way,” he said.
Prof. Opoku-Amankwa cautioned that forcing students to repeat often leads to dropout, stressing that repetition should only be considered after a thorough assessment of the child’s learning challenges.
“It is concerning when a child goes through years of schooling and still cannot write their name. What have they been doing in school all this time? The claim that students are automatically promoted in Free SHS regardless of whether they pass or not is simply not true.
“Many students who are repeated often end up dropping out. Promotion should depend on identifying what went wrong in a student’s studies. How many teachers actually take the time to do that?” he questioned.
His comments come in the wake of the provisional 2025 WASSCE results, which have sparked nationwide concern over declining performance. Only 48.73% of candidates scored A1–C6.
WAEC data further shows that 114,872 candidates—representing 26.77%—failed Mathematics with an F9, while Social Studies recorded 122,449 F9s, accounting for 27.5% of candidates.
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