Every year, when Ghana’s Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results are released, the country is drawn into a familiar debate. We scrutinize grades, question students’ preparedness, worry about declining educational standards and argue over who deserves a place in senior high school.
Then, gradually, the national conversation moves on, but what if we are asking the wrong questions? The controversy surrounding the 2026 BECE results should compel us to confront an uncomfortable reality: Ghanaian children may sit the same national examination, but they do not necessarily receive the same quality of education.
Some attend schools with adequate teachers, learning materials and academic support. Others navigate overcrowded classrooms, inadequate facilities and limited instructional resources. These inequalities exist not only in rural communities but also in urban and peri-urban public schools. Even within the same city, a child’s educational opportunities may depend heavily on family income and the school they attend.
Yet we measure their achievement against the same standards.
According to figures reported by the Computerized School Selection and Placement System, approximately 17% of candidates in the 2026 BECE obtained aggregates between six and 18[1] This is not a national failure rate. Nevertheless, it raises important questions about educational quality and preparedness. What concerns me is that we appear more willing to debate examination outcomes than the inequalities that help shape them.
The learning crisis begins long before the BECE
In July 2026, UNICEF and the Ministry of Education highlighted findings from Ghana’s 2024 National Standardized Test: 45.27% of assessed learners performed below basic proficiency in Mathematics, while 50.33% were below basic proficiency in English[2]. These results concern a different assessment and should not be confused with the 2026 BECE cohort. But they reveal a troubling reality that substantial learning difficulties are already visible before children reach the end of basic education. A child who struggles with reading comprehension in primary school may find increasingly complex subjects difficult to understand. Without effective intervention, those difficulties can accumulate as the child progresses through school. By JHS 3, the BECE may simply expose a problem that has been developing for years.
UNICEF’s 2026 Teachers for All report found that approximately one in five Ghanaian districts faced severe primary-school teacher shortages, with average pupil–teacher ratios exceeding the national target of 35 pupils per teacher. Although shortages are particularly pronounced in parts of northern Ghana, the report also identifies teacher-deployment inequalities affecting districts in the Central and Greater Accra regions[3]. This matters because an urban address does not guarantee a quality education. Children in under-resourced public schools in Accra, Kumasi and other urban communities may face challenges that are easily overlooked when educational disadvantage is discussed exclusively in rural terms.
The divide is also economic.
Families with sufficient resources may supplement schooling through private tuition, additional textbooks and other academic support. Families struggling to meet basic household expenses may have fewer options. UNICEF’s 2024 education financing analysis estimated that children from Ghana’s wealthiest households benefited from approximately 72% more public education funding than children from the poorest households[4]. These are historical estimates, but they raise a question that remains relevant: Can education function as a pathway to economic mobility when the benefits of public investment are themselves unequally distributed?
Free SHS opened the door. But who is prepared to walk through it?
Since its introduction in 2017, Free Senior High School has reduced financial barriers to secondary education for many Ghanaian families. That achievement matters, but expanding access does not automatically resolve the learning difficulties students bring from basic school. In June 2026, the World Bank approved US$300 million to strengthen Ghana’s secondary education system. Its assessment highlighted growing pressure on school infrastructure, teacher capacity and instructional quality as secondary enrolment expanded[5]. These challenges make foundational preparedness even more important. What happens when a student enters an already stretched secondary school without having mastered essential literacy and numeracy skills? Free SHS can remove a financial barrier to secondary education. It cannot, by itself, remove the learning barriers students carry into the classroom. The question, therefore, is not whether Ghana should support secondary education or basic education. It is whether our policies adequately connect the two.
Three reforms Ghana cannot afford to postpone
First, guarantee early intervention for struggling learners. Ghana should build on its Differentiated Learning Plus programme, which has been evaluated through research involving 320 primary schools[6]. Regular, low-stakes assessments should identify children falling behind in literacy and numeracy, followed by structured catch-up instruction. Success should be measured by demonstrated learning improvement, not merely the number of assessments conducted.
Second, allocate educational resources according to school-level need. Teacher deployment, instructional materials and targeted funding should reflect actual shortages, learning outcomes and socioeconomic disadvantages. This approach must include under-resourced urban and peri-urban schools alongside underserved rural communities. Ghana should publish transparent indicators showing whether the schools facing the greatest disadvantages are receiving adequate support.
Third, make foundational learning support part of Free SHS implementation. Incoming SHS students who need additional literacy or numeracy support should receive structured assistance during their first year. This should be a learning intervention, not another high-stakes examination or a barrier to admission. Expanding access must be accompanied by ensuring students are prepared to benefit from it.
These proposals are not substitutes for adequate education financing or effective teacher preparation. They are practical recommendations for making existing investments more responsive to children’s needs.
The next BECE has already begun
Somewhere in Ghana today, a child is struggling to understand a reading passage. Another is learning in an overcrowded urban classroom. Another attends a rural school where attracting teachers remains difficult. Another has parents who desperately want to provide additional academic support but cannot afford it. These children may not sit the BECE for several years. Yet the conditions shaping their future educational outcomes are being established today. We should expect children to work hard, teachers to teach effectively and parents to support their children’s education. But we must also expect policymakers and education authorities to create the conditions necessary for learning.
This is not about lowering academic standards or excusing poor performance. It is about recognizing that accountability must extend beyond the child sitting the examination. Ghana has made important progress in expanding educational access. The next challenge is ensuring that access translates into meaningful learning, regardless of a child’s family income, location or school.
Before we ask why another generation of children failed the BECE, we must ask whether we are doing enough today to prevent the same inequalities from shaping the results of tomorrow.
The writer is a Ghanaian public policy researcher whose interests include educational inequality, economic mobility and community development. The views expressed are her own.
[1] https://www.myjoyonline.com/only-17-of-2026-bece-candidates-score-aggregates-6-18-cssps/
[2] Teachers for All Report Calls for Urgent Reform of Teacher Deployment to Improve Learning Outcomes in Ghana
[4] Championing Change for Children – UNICEF advocacy bulletin 2nd Ed Oct 2024.pdf.pdf
[5] World Bank Approves US$300 Million to Help Ghana Strengthen Secondary Education and Skills Development
[6] Improving foundational learning at scale: Evidence from Ghana’s Differentiated Learning Plus Programme | UNICEF