BECE F9 Results: Should students be denied SHS or given a second chance

Written by; Regina Bless

The debate over the 2026 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) results has moved beyond statistics and school placement. At the centre of the discussion is a difficult question: Should a student who records an F9 in a core subject be prevented from entering Senior High School, or should that student be given the opportunity to continue learning while receiving additional academic support?

Reports indicate that about 55,000 BECE candidates did not qualify for placement into Senior High Schools because they failed either English Language or Mathematics. The CSSPS Secretariat has explained that candidates who fail either subject do not meet the current placement requirement, regardless of their performance in other subjects.

This has understandably generated strong reactions from parents, education advocates and members of the public.

One school of thought supports the Ministry’s position. The argument is straightforward: English and Mathematics are foundational subjects. A student entering SHS should have a reasonable level of competence in both, especially because instruction and assessment at the secondary level depend heavily on literacy and numeracy. Simply ignoring an F9 could therefore mean moving students to the next level without addressing serious learning gaps.

But there is another side to the argument.

Should one examination result determine whether a young person gets another three years of education?

An F9 may tell us that a student did not demonstrate the required level of performance in a particular examination. But it does not necessarily tell us everything about that student’s ability, potential, circumstances or capacity to improve.

Some students may have struggled because of poor preparation, inadequate teaching, difficult personal circumstances or weaknesses that could be addressed with targeted support. Others may perform poorly in an examination but demonstrate strengths in practical, creative, technical or vocational areas.

This is why calls to scrap the use of F9 as an absolute barrier to SHS admission deserve serious consideration.

However, scrapping the barrier should not mean scrapping standards.

Perhaps the better approach is to allow such students into SHS while putting a structured intervention programme in place. Students who fail English or Mathematics could receive compulsory remedial lessons, additional academic support and regular assessments during their first year. They could also be required to resit the relevant examination within a defined period.

That approach would combine access with accountability.

The reported policy direction of requiring students who fail core subjects to sit the examination again is, in principle, understandable. But the bigger question is whether these students should have to remain outside the secondary-school system while waiting for another opportunity.

Education should correct weaknesses, not simply punish them.

If Ghana is committed to expanding access to secondary education, then we must ask whether keeping tens of thousands of young people out of SHS because of one examination outcome actually solves the problem—or simply postpones it.

At the same time, the concerns about falling standards cannot be ignored. If students are admitted without any intervention, the country risks producing another generation of learners who progress through the system without mastering basic literacy and numeracy.

So, in my view, the answer should not be a simple “scrap F9” or “keep them out.”

The better solution is a second-chance model: allow students to enter SHS, identify those with serious weaknesses in English and Mathematics, provide intensive remedial support, and require them to demonstrate improvement through a subsequent assessment.

After all, an examination should measure learning—not permanently define a child’s future.

The real question Ghana should be asking is not “Did this child fail?” but rather “Why did the child fail, and what are we going to do to help the child succeed?”

That is where the conversation about the 2026 BECE results should begin.