The Head of Public Relations at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), John Kapi, has linked the sharp decline in Core Mathematics performance in the 2025 WASSCE to widespread skills gaps among students.

According to Mr Kapi, candidates struggled in several critical areas, including representing mathematical information in diagrammatic form, solving global math-related problems, constructing cumulative frequency tables, making deductions from real-life situations, handling simple interest questions, translating word problems into mathematical expressions, and interpreting results from cumulative frequency data.

He explained that these weaknesses collectively contributed to the poor national performance, resulting in one of the most troubling Core Mathematics outcomes recorded in recent years.

WAEC is expected to outline further steps to help schools and educators address these gaps ahead of future examinations.

This follows the recent 2024 WASSCE report showing a staggering drop in the percentage of candidates who achieved grades A1 to C6 in Core Mathematics, falling by nearly 18 percentage points compared to the previous year.

According to the report, only 48.73% of candidates attained grades A1 to C6 in 2025, representing a massive collapse from the 66.86% achieved in 2024.

A total of 209,068 candidates passed with A1-C6, but 114,872 candidates (26.77%) failed the subject outright with an F9 grade.

Also, a total of 1,021 schools registered candidates for the examination, representing a slight 0.24% increase over 2024, while 5,821 candidates (1.26%) were absent.

John Kapi stressed that the decline in performance did not reflect a deviation from the curriculum but indicated the need for strengthened teaching and student focus on practical problem-solving skills.