2025 WASSCE Fallout: UG’s Rigid Admission Bar Sparks Backlash
He urges universities to show flexibility after over 96,000 Core Mathematics passes were lost and the national WASSCE pass rate slumped to 48.73%
- Hamza Suhuyini has described UG’s decision to maintain its cut-off points as unacceptable
- He is calling for flexibility due to the sharp drop in 2025 WASSCE performance
- Rigid cut-off points could deny many deserving students access to university
Hamza Suhuyini, a member of the National Democratic Congress (NDC) communications team, has strongly faulted the University of Ghana for its decision to keep admission cut-off points unchanged despite the steep deterioration in the 2025 WASSCE results.
Appearing on Channel One TV’s Breakfast Daily on Wednesday, December 3, monitored by Lawsonmediaonline, Suhuyini described the university’s stance as “highly unacceptable,” urging tertiary institutions to exercise flexibility in response to the exceptional decline in academic performance nationwide.
According to him, the unusual failure rates recorded this year may not be entirely the fault of students and should compel universities to reconsider their admission benchmarks.
“Maintaining the same cut-off points under these circumstances is extremely unacceptable. Universities must be flexible. There is every possibility that these failures stem from factors beyond the students themselves,” he stressed.
Suhuyini warned that rigid admission requirements could shut the doors of tertiary education to many deserving candidates. He proposed that thresholds in some programmes be adjusted to reflect the new academic reality.
“For instance, instead of keeping certain programmes at aggregate 8, the university should consider moving them to aggregate 10 to accommodate the situation,” he explained.
He further argued that while strict cut-off points may have worked in previous years, the current trend in results makes a strong case for a policy rethink.
The 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination recorded one of the worst performances in recent history, with Core Mathematics suffering the biggest setback. Passes (A1–C6) dropped sharply from 305,132 in 2024 to 209,068 in 2025—a decline of more than 96,000. The overall pass rate stood at 48.73%, leaving over half of all candidates below the minimum requirement for university entry.
In addition, nearly one out of every four candidates failed both Core Mathematics and Social Studies, raising serious concerns about student eligibility and the likely impact on admissions for the 2025/2026 academic year.
