A member of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) Communications Team, Benjamin Gyewu-Appiah, popularly known as Benghazi, has alleged that government deliberately orchestrated the mass failure recorded in the 2025 West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examination (WASSCE) to reduce the financial burden of the No Fees Stress policy.
According to him, statistics available to the Minister of Finance Dr Cassiel Ato Forson and the Ministry of Education Haruna Iddrisu indicated that the number of Senior High School (SHS) graduates progressing to tertiary institutions had quadrupled.
Speaking in an interview shared on Social media, he claimed that a significant pass rate would increase the pressure on government to fund the first-year tertiary free fees policy.
“Ato Forson and Ministry of Education monitored the statistics and realized the students going to university from SHS had quadrupled. So, if they pass all those children, it means government won’t get money to pay for the free fees for first-year students, so they deliberately failed the children,” he alleged.
“They realised the government cannot pay for the no-fees stress, they cannot fund it,” he added.
Entire results of 653 candidates cancelled as WAEC releases WASSCE 2025 provisional results
His comments come amid widespread public debate following the release of the 2025 WASSCE results, which show low national performance.
Meanwhile, the Ghana Education Service (GES) has dismissed suggestions of deliberate manipulation, insisting the outcomes released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) accurately reflect the learning abilities of the candidates.
Speaking on JoyNews on December 1, 2025, Daniel Fenyi, Public Relations Officer of GES, admitted that the results were worrying but emphasized that they were a realistic reflection of students’ competence.
“… The results you see are a true reflection of the competencies of our learners. Even though it is concerning, you wouldn't train your learners for three good years … only for them to churn out these results,” Fenyi stated.
He described the development as “alarming,” noting that the poor performance points to a deeper underlying issue within the educational system that requires urgent attention.
GES sets record straight on 2025 WASSCE results amid public debate
Fenyi stressed that the GES was fully involved in the examination process and stands by the results.
“Indeed, we perfectly agree… we work closely with WAEC. The examinations are conducted with largely our students and the invigilators, supervisors, are largely our staff. We monitor, supervise and collaborate with them,” he explained.
He said the rigorous monitoring process eliminates any doubt about the integrity of the results.
In a separate development, WAEC announced on November 29, 2025, that the results of over 6,000 candidates had been cancelled for various examination malpractices, including the possession of foreign materials such as notebooks and printed sheets inside examination halls.
“Finance Minister Dr. Ato Forson and Minister of Education, Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, deliberately failed WASSCE students because of the No Fees Stress Policy.” - NPP Communications Team member Benjamin Gyewu-Appiah (Benghazi) pic.twitter.com/LYVyYMrfa1
— EDHUB🌍ℹ (@eddie_wrt) December 2, 2025
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