2025 WASSCE RESULTS, YET ANOTHER EVIDENCE OF OUR WEAKENING INTELLECTUALISM-SKOBAOFFICIAL WRITES

Having been in the advocacy space for some time, I have come to understand and always held the view that Ghana’s intellectual base was fast eroding. Over the weekend, this long held view was confirmed as results for the 2025 WASSCE came through. From every indication, the results have been abysmal in all fronts. Per the provisional results, •131,097 students (30.27%) failed English Language. •220, 008 students (50.54%) failed Core Mathematics. •161,606 students (39.87%) failed Integrated Science. •196,727 students (44%) failed Social Studies. While intellectualism goes beyond academic performance, this results, for me, reflects a weakening intellectual base of the country. This article explores the broader issue of the weakening intellectualism in the Ghanaian society.

Intellectualism is not socially rewarding

I have never seen a country where people are so scornful of critical thinkers and studious individuals than Ghana. People deride intellectualism, calling critical minds academic, as though being academic means, one could not achieve anything tangible beyond theories. Indeed, in Ghana we have a way of mocking intellectuals using some demeaning name calling tactics. We call intellectuals names like bookworm, book long and many other devaluing expressions.  We have been able to tell young people that one does not need to go to school or better still be studious to achieve anything meaningful, running down intellectualism as though the people who have achieved greatness in their fields, did it in vacuum. Historically, societies that have developed have held their intellectual based in high esteem. The philosophers, thinkers and intellectuals, whose ideas formed the foundations of the developed countries we envy today, are still revered. Their books are still selling. Their ideas and theories are the foundation for curriculum development and pedagogue in most universities. Their effigies and artworks appear in vintage locations. They are not looked down upon. As we do in our part of the world. This rather, quiet but tacit, vote of no confidence in intellectualism, is fast taking a toll on us as people. Until we make intellectualism attractive and socially-rewarding, we should forget about changing anything meaningful in our economies and societies.

Intellectualism is not Financially rewarding

Beyond the social disdain that academics suffer, intellectualism is also not financially rewarding. People in academia are reputed to be among the least paid professionals. The long-held view that the Teacher’s reward is in heaven evade every area where knowledge is to be exchanged. People will take ideas for free and won’t even acknowledge it. As a consultant, I come to terms with this reality daily. How people will easily pay for a crate of egg than pay for a book or an idea I have shared with them baffles me every night. In our space, no one get rewarded for inventing new ideas. Friends won’t pay for your ideas. Families may be dismissive of same, and you cannot even find investors, who are willing to walk with you. Our economy is a buying and selling consumption-laden one, where people with something tangible to sell make money. This is why wealth, in our part of the world, does not reflect an individual’s intellectual capacity or otherwise. We have so detached wealth from intellectualism that the two cannot ever settle their difference. Elsewhere, the real powerholders and shapers are the people who challenge the status quo with their ideas, they get paid handsomely and are revered greatly. But the contrary is the reality in our case. Our system has left most of our graduate jobless and idle, making them more miserable than they would without education. The gulf between education and income widens even further annually as people graduate. Besides, when you pay your trainers and educators GHC 2,000 for hours and you pay your entertainers GHC 500,000 for less than an hour, you should not be surprised if the intellectual base of your country weakens.

Intellectualism is not just about accumulating degrees

In Ghana, when it is said that someone is learned, people interpret it to mean the person with several degrees and certificates. While this may be true in some respects, true intellectualism goes beyond accumulation of certificates and degrees. While a certain level of certification is required to validate one’s intellectual capacity, the real test is a person’s ability to stay learning beyond the classrooms/lecture halls. Participating in workshops, reading voraciously, engaging in intellectually stimulating dialogues and advocacies are ways intellectuals stay learning beyond the classrooms. Until the educated people take some of these things seriously and assert themselves, the intellectual base of this country will continue to be on the decline.

Conclusion

Let’s make intellectualism rewarding. Let’s appreciate people who stimulate ideas and thinking. Let’s buy their books and attend their training sessions. Let us reward intellectually stimulating platforms and stop creating societies that reward entertainers more than learners. If you truly want to know how weak our intellectual base is getting, just start a new page that has no entertainment/comedy orientation and see how far it.

Samuel Boateng Osarfo

Marketing Communication Consultant/Author/Researcher

SkobaCommunications

0541842198