Education think tank Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch) has praised the Ghana Education Service (GES) for introducing new measures to hold Senior High School (SHS) heads accountable for examination malpractices in this year’s West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
Under the directive, SHS heads will be required to sign an undertaking to ensure a malpractice-free examination. Eduwatch, in a statement on Tuesday, August 12, 2025, described the initiative as a bold and decisive step that reinforces the critical role of school leadership in safeguarding the credibility of Ghana’s education system.
However, the group urged GES to broaden the policy’s scope beyond irregularities reported by invigilators, supervisors, and inspectors during the exams to also include those detected by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) after marking.
Citing WAEC data from 2018 to 2023, Eduwatch highlighted a major gap: while only 1,439 cases of collusion were reported at examination centres, 82,141 were uncovered after marking meaning less than two percent of collusion cases are detected on-site.
“Considering the crucial supervisory role of school heads during the WASSCE, any head whose school records at least 10% subject result cancellations should face severe sanctions from the GES,” the think tank recommended.
Eduwatch also linked the growing prevalence of malpractice to the WASSCE Pass Rate Performance Contracts signed by school heads and the WASSCE School Rankings. It called for both to be abolished and replaced with performance indicators that promote genuine learning without encouraging cheating.
The organisation reaffirmed its readiness to work with stakeholders to strengthen examination integrity and protect the reputation of Ghana’s education system.
