The Member of Parliament for Pru East, Emmanuel Boam, has accused the former Akufo-Addo administration of creating an environment that enabled widespread examination malpractices during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE), allegedly to inflate pass rates under the Free Senior High School (Free SHS) programme.
Addressing journalists on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, Mr. Boam claimed that regulatory lapses under the previous government allowed illegal practices such as students paying “examination support levies” to facilitate cheating. He also alleged that some candidates were permitted to enter examination halls with mobile phones.
According to him, these developments artificially boosted WASSCE results, painting a misleading picture of the academic successes attributed to the Free SHS policy.
“There has never been a more organised and well-coordinated examination malpractice than what we witnessed under the past government,” he said. “It was a systematic arrangement involving institutions that were compelled to fall in line.”
Mr. Boam also criticised the practice of assessing headteachers based solely on WASSCE outcomes despite persistent shortages in essential teaching and learning resources.
“How do you tie the performance of schools to WASSCE results and threaten headteachers with removal when they do not have the basic tools to run their schools?” he questioned.
He further alleged that students were encouraged to contribute to an “examination support levy,” claiming that some teachers collected money, solved exam questions at undisclosed locations, and passed them to invigilators for distribution to candidates.
“The system was so compromised that students were asked to pay for examination support, and groups of teachers worked together to solve questions and channel them to invigilators,” he said.
Mr. Boam has urged the current Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, to set up a commission of enquiry to investigate the alleged malpractices and their broader implications for the credibility of Ghana’s education system.
