The continued decline in students’ performance in English Language in the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) requires urgent remedial action, Executive Director of Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has said.
Mr Asare said although performance in Social Studies, Mathematics and Integrated Science improved compared with last year, the decline in English Language was worrying because strong literacy skills are essential to students’ overall academic development.
Speaking in an interview, he described the performance in Social Studies as particularly encouraging, with the proportion of candidates obtaining grades A1 to C6 rising to 78.04 per cent in 2026.
He said the result was the subject’s strongest performance in recent years.
Mr Asare also welcomed the improvements recorded in Mathematics and Integrated Science, saying the gains in the three subjects suggested that some interventions introduced to address learning gaps identified last year might be beginning to produce results.
“However, there’s a worrying trend of further decline in performance in English, which requires remedial action,” he said.
Figures released by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) show that the proportion of candidates obtaining A1 to C6 in English Language fell from 69.00 per cent in 2025 to 62.40 per cent in 2026.
The decline continues a four-year downward trend, with the pass rate falling from 73.11 per cent in 2023 to 69.52 per cent in 2024, 69.00 per cent in 2025 and 62.40 per cent in 2026.
Mr Asare said the trend raised concerns about students’ foundational literacy skills and their ability to cope with the demands of secondary education.
Education Watch is therefore calling for stronger interventions at the basic-school level, including the deployment of enough teachers, improved learning materials, effective supervision, and greater support and motivation for teachers.
Mr Asare’s comments follow WAEC’s release of the provisional 2026 WASSCE results.
A total of 512,862 candidates from 1,022 schools registered for the examination, comprising 225,270 males and 287,592 females.
The number of candidates increased by 11.07 per cent compared with the 461,736 registered in 2025.
WAEC recorded 5,049 absentees, representing 0.98 per cent of the total registered candidates.
While English Language performance declined, Mathematics recorded an improvement, with the proportion of candidates obtaining A1 to C6 increasing from 48.73 per cent in 2025 to 60.75 per cent in 2026.
Integrated Science also improved from 57.74 per cent to 62.08 per cent, while Social Studies recorded the biggest increase, rising from 55.82 per cent in 2025 to 78.04 per cent in 2026.
