Ghanaian Man who scored 4Fs in WASSCE Earns PhD from a UK University

George Asiamah, a Ghanaian from Atwima Chichibong, Ashanti Region, obtained his early education and first degree.

After junior high, he attended Atwimaman Secondary School and earned 4Fs and 3Es in the SSCE, now WASSCE.
Asiamah earned his PhD from Sheffield University in the UK after starting out poorly.


George Asiamah studied in Ghana before moving to the UK to pursue his doctorate.

Atwima Chichibong, a little village, was his hometown. He studied locally.

Asiamah overcame childhood deficiencies to earn a PhD. The stormy years brought poor Basic Education Certificate Examination scores (BECE).


Asiamah earned 22 in 2000 at Afrancho/Chichibong Junior High School. Due to his low outcome, none of the schools he applied to accepted him.

After all the schools he applied to rejected him, including Atwimaman Secondary School for being his third option, he took a relative's advise and returned.

As directed, we met the school's senior housemaster the next day. I was accepted as a day student, he wrote on Facebook.


His uncle suggested him study business instead of general science. I chose the latter... My uncle bought me a new bike to assist me commute. It encouraged school attendance.

Asiamah says his BECE scores were less embarrassing because he encountered classmates with worse grades on his first day. Due to their shared courses, 10 students were forced to take a class with General Arts students.

In his first year, his attendance and performance were good, but he soon encountered a challenge that would derail his studies.

At the end of the first year, his senior high school notified the Business students they would abolish their program the following year. During holiday, business students were asked to find schools to transfer to.

The next academic year dawned, and I was the only business student who didn't get into a new school. Communication wasn't clear. My school was seeking for a new one. I had to take General Arts in my second year, he said.
He reverted to his old truant ways. I now remain home for months, not weeks. My term's school days are almost countable. Interestingly, my pals would cry "Ebon! Ebon!" whenever I arrived in class (teasing me with the name of my village). 'Enti school no wo ka ho?' others will joke. ''

Despite dismal WASSCE grades, George Asiamah pursues higher education.
In 2003, Asiamah received 4Fs and 3Es on his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination (SSCE), now WASSCE. He called his grades "disgraceful."

Despite his poor performance, he graduated with a degree in economics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST). He was the Economics Students' Association president and a teaching assistant from 2013 to 2014 before receiving a Commonwealth Scholarship to study MSc Sustainable Development at The Queen's University of Belfast from 2014 to 2015.

On scholarship, he studied sustainability science and public policy at Sheffield University. After years of swotting, he defended his thesis at the establishment.

"Before his PhD, he served as Research and Policy Analyst for the SEED Centre, a non-profit organization that advocates rural sustainability and local economic development in Ghana," Sheffield added.
Asiamah, 34, will graduate with a doctorate in June-September 2003 (Summer) after overcoming his early struggles from failing senior high school to receiving his PhD in the UK.

Next summer, I graduate. I advise young people to set goals and surround themselves with the appropriate people. He told YEN, "Those with knowledge and expertise, focus, and continue." Ghana

Photo of George Asiamah. Credit: George Asiamah. Source: Facebook