The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has confirmed a national education concern with the release of the provisional WASSCE 2025 results, revealing a worrying surge in the outright failure rate (Grade F9) across all four core subjects compared to the 2024 results.
An analysis of the official data released shows that the percentage of candidates who failed Core Mathematics outright (Grade F9) has nearly quadrupled, rising from 6.10% in 2024 to an alarming 26.77% in 2025.
Similarly, the failure rate for Social Studies has almost tripled in a single year, from 9.55% in 2024 to 27.50% in 2025.
The massive increase in F9 grades signals a dramatic downturn in foundational knowledge among the total of 461,736 candidates who registered for the examination. The steepest increase was recorded in the core subjects that form the basis for tertiary education entry.
The F9 rate in Core Mathematics skyrocketed by 20.67 percentage points, jumping from 6.10% in 2024 to 26.77% in 2025. This means nearly one out of every four students who sat for the exam failed the subject outright.
In Social Studies, the F9 failure rate saw a severe climb, rising from 9.55% in 2024 to 27.50% in 2025. This represents an 188% increase in the F9 rate.
NKONKONSA.com
