Why the BECE Cut-Off Point Must Return in 2025

Today, nearly every student who sits for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) gets placed in a senior high school. On the surface, this sounds like a great step for access to education. We want every child to have a chance to study at the SHS. But this approach, now several years old, has created serious problems within our education system.

For the 2025 batch of BECE graduates, we need a change. It is time to reintroduce a sensible cut-off point. This is not about denying children an education. It is about providing a meaningful education for every child. It is about ensuring our schools can actually function. We need to build a system that values merit, manages resources, and gives students a real chance to succeed on the path best suited for them. The current system is not achieving this.

Moving the cut off point to say aggregate 30 for a state will the a good decision.

Overcrowding Is Breaking Our Schools

Walk into a classroom in many of our senior high schools today. You will find a teacher struggling to manage a class of 60, 70, or even more students. How can one teacher give individual attention to that many students? How can they effectively teach complex subjects like physics or elective maths? The truth is, they cannot.

This is not a guess. This is the reality. A teacher in a Category C school in the Central Region recently shared his experience. He teaches Integrated Science to a class of 75 students. The school has a laboratory, but it can only hold 30 students at a time. This means that for any practical lesson, more than half the class must wait outside. The students miss the core experience of the lesson. This story is common across the country.

Overcrowding extends beyond the classroom.

• Dormitories: Sleeping spaces are congested. This creates health and sanitation issues.
• Dining Halls: Students eat in shifts. This disrupts schedules and study time.
• Resources: Textbooks, chairs, and tables are insufficient for the number of students.

We must ask ourselves a hard question. By placing every single student into an already strained system, are we helping them? Or are we setting them up for three years of struggle in an environment that cannot support their learning? A system that prioritizes quantity over quality fails everyone.

Academic Standards Are Falling

A key purpose of an examination is to measure understanding. The BECE should show if a student has the basic knowledge to handle the senior high school curriculum. When we remove any minimum standard for entry, we remove a powerful reason for students in junior high school to study hard.

READ: Buy 2025 BECE Result Checkers | ghanaeducation.org

If you know you will be placed in an SHS no matter your grade, what is the motivation to push for a single-digit score? This has a direct impact on performance. While official data analysis is needed, many teachers report a noticeable decline in the preparedness of students entering SHS.

Think about the teacher in that science class of 75 students. In that class, there are students with excellent BECE grades and students who barely passed. The teacher faces an impossible task. They must teach a curriculum designed for students with a solid foundation. Yet, many in the class may still struggle with reading or basic arithmetic.

The teacher must either slow down for those struggling, leaving the high-achievers bored and unchallenged, or teach to the top of the class, leaving many students behind. The result is that neither group gets the education they deserve. What message do we send about the importance of effort and merit if there is no minimum standard for advancement?

The Rightful Place of TVET

Our country needs skilled artisans, technicians, and entrepreneurs. The government knows this. It has invested billions of cedis in upgrading Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions. We have new workshops and modern equipment. Yet, our current SHS placement policy undermines this entire effort.

The system sends a clear but wrong message. It says that SHS is the primary, most desirable path. TVET becomes the option for those who “fail,” even though there is no official failure under the current policy.

Reintroducing a cut-off point would change this. It would create a clear and respectable pathway for students.

• Students who meet the academic cut-off for SHS can proceed there.
• Students who do not meet the cut-off are not discarded. They are guided towards TVET programs that match their skills and interests.

This is not a punishment. It is smart guidance. A student who struggles with abstract theories might excel at automotive engineering or fashion design. Forcing that student into a grammar school is a disservice to them and the nation. A cut-off point helps direct students to where they can truly thrive. Why do we maintain a policy that works against our own national development goals for technical education?

A Sensible Path Forward

Bringing back the BECE cut-off point does not mean a return to an elitist system. The cut-off should be reasonable. It should be set at a level that shows a student has the basic literacy and numeracy skills to cope with SHS work.

The goal is to ensure students who enter SHS can actually benefit from the curriculum. For those who do not meet the grade, we must build a robust counseling and guidance system. These students and their parents should be shown the amazing opportunities available in the TVET sector.

This creates two strong, equally valued educational streams. One is academic. The other is technical and vocational. Both are essential for Ghana’s future. Both should be populated by students who are well-suited to them.

Reintroducing the BECE cut-off point restores the value of hard work. It helps solve the severe overcrowding in our schools. It strengthens our TVET system by directing talented students there. It ensures a higher quality of education for all. It gives every Ghanaian child a better, more appropriate chance to build a successful future.