The Member of Parliament for Pru East, Emmanuel Boam, has levelled serious accusations against the former Akufo-Addo administration, claiming it created an environment that enabled widespread cheating during the West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE). He argues this was done to artificially boost the performance of students under the flagship Free Senior High School (Free SHS) policy.

Speaking to journalists on Tuesday, December 2, 2025, the MP alleged that examination conditions were deliberately weakened, allowing students to exploit loopholes in the system. He claimed that some candidates were even permitted into examination halls with mobile phones, and that money was solicited under the guise of “examination support levies.”

According to him, this fostered a coordinated network of malpractice designed to inflate pass rates:

“There hasn’t been any organised and well-orchestrated examination malpractice than what we saw under the past government. It was properly coordinated between institutions that were compelled to align.”

Alleged “examination support levy”

Mr. Boam further asserted that students in certain schools were encouraged to contribute money, which was used to facilitate cheating during the exams. He claimed that groups of teachers were paid to solve exam questions outside the hall and pass the answers to invigilators, who then circulated them to candidates:

“The system was so compromised that students were asked to pay money for examination support, and you had groups of teachers solving questions elsewhere and passing them to invigilators.”

Pressure on headteachers

The MP criticised policies that tied school performance and the security of headteachers’ positions to WASSCE outcomes, despite inadequate public resources to support quality teaching and learning. He argued that such benchmarks incentivized schools to pursue exam results at any cost:

“How do you tie the rating of schools to WASSCE results and threaten headteachers with removal when they lack the basic resources to run their institutions?”

Mr. Boam has urged the current Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, to establish a commission of enquiry to investigate the alleged malpractice, assess its scale and impact, and protect the integrity of Ghana’s education system. He warned that if the claims are left unaddressed, the credibility of national examinations and the value of certificates earned by students will continue to erode.