Examination malpractice is rising, not declining – EduWatch

The Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare, has disagreed with claims that examination malpractice is declining, saying available evidence instead points to a significant rise in the problem.

Speaking on Joy FM's Super Morning Show on Tuesday, September 15, Mr Asare said the data shows examination malpractice increased from about 0.9% in 2018 to 13.5% in 2024, with the rate rising further to 14.8% in 2025.

He said Eduwatch is therefore not convinced by claims that increased arrests of offenders demonstrate a decline in examination malpractice.

“I disagree with the President’s assertion that examination malpractice is declining.”

According to Mr Asare, the trend between 2024 and 2025 shows that the situation has worsened rather than improved.

“Between 2024 and 2025, it did not decline. It will increase further from 13.5 percent to 14.8 percent. We are waiting for 2026 data.”

He said the figures do not support the argument that examination malpractice has declined since the current government assumed office.

“Since this government resumed office, it has not declined. Going by the trend, it hasn’t declined. It’s already from 13.5 percent to 14.8 percent.”

Mr Asare also pointed to data from the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), saying the level of malpractice associated with subject cancellations and entire results increased sharply between 2024 and 2025.

“If you look at BECE, actually, malpractice level, subject cancellations, both entire results and then subject cancellations, actually doubled, more than doubled from 4.22 in 2024 to 28.95 percent in 2025.”

He said although a decline was recorded in 2020, the level of malpractice remains higher than the 2024 figure.

Mr Asare said Eduwatch views examination malpractice as a behavioural challenge that requires a change in attitude and behaviour rather than an approach focused mainly on arrests.

“For us at Eduwatch, we see this as a behavioural challenge for which the solutions should be change in attitude and behaviour.”

He explained that Eduwatch measures progress by looking at the prevalence of malpractice rather than the number of people arrested, particularly because comprehensive data on arrests is not available.

“We measure progress by the number of people participating in the fraud, not the number of people being arrested, because we don’t have data for that.”

Mr Asare said the available evidence shows a worrying long-term trend, with the proportion of examination malpractice rising from about one per cent in 2018 to 13.5 per cent by 2024 and further to 14.8 per cent in 2025.

He also raised concerns about the number of candidates affected by subject cancellations, saying more than 7,000 candidates had their results cancelled on the basis of subject-related examination malpractice.

He said the figures should prompt education authorities to focus on changing the behaviour and attitudes that encourage examination malpractice.

Mr Asare maintained that the 2026 data will be important in determining whether the trend has finally changed, but until then, the available statistics do not support claims that examination malpractice is declining.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

Tags:  

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.