In the 2026 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, Social Studies achieved the highest success rate among the four core subjects, with 78.04 % of candidates earning grades between A1 and C6. The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) released the performance statistics, showing a sharp rise from 55.82 % in 2025 and surpassing the 76.76 % recorded in 2023 and 71.53 % in 2024.
Mathematics (Core) also rebounded after a steep decline in 2025. The proportion of students achieving A1‑C6 climbed from 48.73 % last year to 60.75 % this year. Although still below the 62.23 % benchmark set in 2023, the figure represents a notable recovery from the 48.73 % in 2025.
Integrated Science performance improved as well, rising from 57.74 % in 2025 to 62.08 % in 2026. These gains in the three subjects stand in stark contrast to the trend seen in English Language, where the percentage of candidates scoring A1‑C6 fell from 69.00 % in 2025 to 62.40 % in 2026.
WAEC noted that over the four‑year period from 2023 to 2026, English Language was the only core subject to record a progressive decline, while the other three subjects showed varying degrees of improvement.
These figures cover candidates who obtained grades A1 to C6 and reflect the overall direction of academic performance in Ghana’s senior secondary schools for the 2026 examination cycle.
Stakeholders will likely monitor the next WAEC release to assess whether the upward trend in Social Studies, Mathematics, and Integrated Science continues, and to investigate the factors contributing to the downturn in English Language achievement.
