WAEC blames poor reading, social media slang for English decline in 2026 WASSCE

The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has blamed the decline in candidates’ English Language performance in the 2026 WASSCE on weak reading habits, persistent grammatical errors and the increasing influence of informal social media language.

WAEC Head of Public Affairs, John Kapi, said overall candidate performance improved compared with 2025, but English Language was among the subjects that recorded a decline.

He noted that the percentage of candidates who achieved grades A1 to C6 in English Language has fallen steadily in recent years—from 73.11% in 2023 to 69.52% in 2024, 69% in 2025 and 62.40% in 2026.

According to Mr Kapi, the Chief Examiner’s report highlighted recurring difficulties in areas such as concord, spelling, grammar, comprehension and summary writing.

He also raised concerns about the declining culture of reading among candidates, saying some students struggled to respond adequately to questions based on prescribed literary works.

Another issue identified by WAEC is the growing use of informal expressions in examination scripts, particularly language commonly used on social media and messaging platforms.

Mr Kapi said some candidates were treating shortened or contracted forms commonly used in informal communication as though they were acceptable standard English, describing the trend as a concern.

Meanwhile, performance in Core Mathematics improved compared with the previous year.

Mr Kapi said candidates performed relatively well in areas including arithmetic progression, coordinate geometry and business mathematics. However, weaknesses persisted in converting word problems into mathematical statements and in some other areas of the subject.

In the 2026 WASSCE, 60.75% of candidates obtained grades between A1 and C6 in Core Mathematics, compared with 62.40% for English Language.