Prof Stephen Adei, a renowned educationist, has revealed that for eleven years his school, the Ghana Christian International High School, has stopped using BECE results as an entrance requirement.
According to Prof Stephen Adei, he does not trust the credibility of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
Speaking on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show, Prof Stephen Adei stated, “For 11 years, Ghana Christian International High School in Accra has not used BECE as an entrance requirement because we don’t trust them”.
He noted that the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has brought in measures but is still playing catch-up.
Prof Stephen Adei added, “I must say that WAEC has been trying to catch up; there is a catch-up game. It seems the things are entrenched and always the things happen before they try. For example, deploying monitoring teams, some of whom have also been corrupted; arrest and prosecution of only a few; cancellation of results… so they are trying, but there are many against the tide”.
The renowned educationist highlighted that cheating in schools reflects the wider decay in national values.
He added, “What is happening is a reflection of the moral degradation or degeneration in our society. When you see politicians openly bribing their way, giving money in the open to everybody else. When we see galamsey, people say that ‘so long as we get money, even if we poison the whole nation, we don’t care’. Corruption in the public sector, the decadence in the homes, because it’s parents who are sponsoring these”.
“Now the question is why? There are a lot of ills in our society and pressure to perform, and, irrespective of how you do it. So people now have a lot of mansions they cannot explain and cars that their income does not support. And that is going down into the schools to say that once you achieve, irrespective of how, society will recognise you. Then there is a very big problem, which the World Bank in 2016 called schooling without learning,” Prof. Adei warned.
Prof Stephen Adei cautioned that Ghanaian children go through primary school totally illiterate.
He added, “Our primary schools in the public sector; practically, the children go through school totally illiterate. If you go to a place like Togo, by the second year in primary school, every child is literate.
And if it is not addressed, these people will therefore go through and will have a way of getting some certificates anyway. And because of that, most of the children have very poor study habits,” he explained.
His Comments follow a JoyNews exposé that has uncovered some officials of the Ghana Education Service (GES) colluding with invigilators to help BECE candidates cheat.
The exposé revealed that the GES official received as little as GH¢60 to allow candidates to cheat in the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE).
The probe revealed that at the Derby Avenue RC Basic School in Accra, invigilators were promised GH¢60 daily to allow candidates to smuggle mobile phones into examination halls to use artificial intelligence tools to solve questions.
At St. George’s Anglican, the supervisor distributed envelopes containing GH¢400 to each invigilator, and some candidates also made some daily contributions.
The JOYNEWS exposé also unearthed an “Aseda Offertory” which was collected before the start of the final papers at the centre, it was meant to thank invigilators for their assistance in the examination.
According to the report, students contributed at least GH¢5 each in appreciation to be given to the invigilators.
The invigilator who got the nickname Sir Aseda moved from one exam hall to the other with a box to collect the aseda offertory.
John Kapi, Head of Public Affairs at the West African Examinations Council (WAEC), in the documentary stated, “Any payment that is made in the course of the examination to an invigilator or supervisor is illegal. It is not coming from WAEC.
“WAEC does not pay money in the course of the examination. We don’t do that”.
The exposé also revealed that malpractice was carefully organised with invigilators dictating answers, and circulated handwritten and printed solutions.
Also, Supervisors acted as lookouts against WAEC and National Security officials.
Kofi Asare of Africa Education Watch, in an interview, stated, “We’re teaching children corruption in basic schools. Corruption 101 begins here. They grow up to normalise it, producing corrupt citizens and professionals”.
Furthermore, Prof. Ernest Kofi Davis, the acting Director-General of GES, noted that all staff caught aiding malpractice would be dealt with.
“We cannot work with staff who cheat. Why keep someone who carries questions to students in an exam hall instead of teaching them in class? Nobody wants to be operated on by a doctor who cheated their way through. We must stop this”, he stated.
The documentary titled Dark World of BECE will be aired on Monday, 8th September 2025, on JoyNews’ AM Show and also on Joy Prime’s Prime Morning.
603,328 candidates across the country took part in the 2025 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE).
The exams were scheduled from Wednesday, June 11, to Wednesday, June 18, 2025.
The 297,250 males and 306,078 females are the first batch of students seeking to benefit from the Free Senior High School (FSHS) Policy under the new government.
In related news, Samuel Armah, a teacher at Ghana College SHS, and two university students, Kwame Oteng Nkansah and Amedeka James, have been jailed for a total of 20 months in prison.
The three have been jailed for their involvement in examination malpractice during the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE).
The convicts were arrested in Kasoa while engaging in various exam-related offences.
They were sentenced by the Kasoa-Ofaakor District Magistrate’s Court.
Samuel Armah, a teacher who was serving as an invigilator, was caught dictating answers to candidates with the answers to Social Studies Paper 1 on his mobile phone.
He was sentenced to eight months in prison and fined 80 penalty units.
Another convict, a Level 100 student of Accra Technical University, Kwame Oteng Nkansah, was caught impersonating Quayson Francis Atta of Ghana College SHS and was jailed for six months and fined 80 penalty units.
Additionally, Amedeka James, a level 100 University of Ghana, was also jailed for six months and fined 80 penalty units for impersonating his twin brother, Amedeka Justice, during the same paper.