WASSCE: Maths shouldn’t see a dip in my time, I’ll deal with drop in pass rate – Adutwum

Education Minister, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, has said that it is unacceptable that the pass rate in mathematics in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) dropped under his tenure because he is a mathematician and has taught maths for a very long time.

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) on Wednesday December 8 released the results of the 2021 WASSCE.

A statement by the exams body said 54.11 per cent passed in mathematics in 2021 as against the 65.71 per cent.

The statistics indicate that over 45 per cent of the candidates who sat for the 2021 WASSCE failed Mathematics and English Language.

Speaking to journalists in Parliament on Thursday December 9, Dr Osei Adutwum who is also lawmaker for Bosomtwe assured that issues that led to the drop in the pass rate are going to be investigated and tackled.

“Actually, the average is 60 per cent, certain subjects [rate] went up, others dipped but if you put it on average it is still 60 per cent.

“So, if you look at English for example, there was a dip, mathematics there was a dip but Integrated Science saw huge jump and Social Studies saw an increase and so over all, the average is still 60 per cent.

“ But on the hand” he added “I just want to assure you that Mathematics should not see a dip in my time as somebody who has taught mathematics. So we are going to look at what went wrong and what we can do, which school did so well and then we are going to look at how best to ensure that we move up.

“The good news is that two years in a row, we had in the core subjects seen 50 per cent plus pass rate which means more students will then qualify to go to the university because in the past years, what happened was, you may have 70 per cent or 80 per cent pass in social studies, and mathematics is 33 per cent. Because mathematics is 33 per cent, you can’t have more than 33 per cent of the students going to the university. So, if English is 30 percent, even if all the subjects are 70per cent , you can’t have more than 30 per cent going to the university.

“The moment you move English and Mathematics up then you are guaranteed a higher rate of entry into the universities. So this is good news for the country.”

WAEC said that a total number of 1,339 subject results and 174 entire results in WASSCE have been cancelled for various examination malpractices such as bringing foreign material including mobile phones into the examination hall, tearing off parts of question papers and collusion.

“The Entire Results of 3,667 candidates have been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into various cases of examination malpractice detected during and after the conduct of the examination.

“The scripts of candidates from 194 schools in certain subjects have also been withheld and are being scrutinised. The withheld results of candidates may be cancelled or released based on the outcome of the investigations,” it added.

It further stated “The Council wishes to express its sincerest gratitude to all stakeholders especially the Ministry of Education, Ghana Education Service, the Security Agencies and Examiners, for their support and co-operation during the conduct of the examination and release of results.”