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Claim: Hagie Suwaneh, National Youth President of the opposition United Democratic Party (UDP), claims that the performance of Gambian students in the Grade 12 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) is poorer today under President Adama Barrow than it was during the administration of Yahya Jammeh.
Verdict: False. Available evidence does not support the claim. Rather, the WASSCE performance data reviewed by DUBAWA indicate improvements in key Grade 12 performance indicators under President Adama Barrow compared with the final years of Yahya Jammeh’s administration.
Full Text
During an appearance on QTV Gambia’s Current Affairs Show (Decision 2026), Hagie Suwaneh, National Youth President of the United Democratic Party (UDP), criticised the state of education under President Adama Barrow.
Mr Suwaneh specifically compared recent WASSCE results with those recorded during Yahya Jammeh’s administration, arguing that student performance has deteriorated.
“If you look at the current WASSCE results that were recently published, you compare them to the past; even in Jammeh’s era, you find that education today is poorer. Our education is poorer today than during the time of Yahya Jammeh, especially Grade 12 performance,” Suwaneh stated.
Watch from 00:12:56 to 00:12:45.
When the host asked him to provide statistics to support the claim, Suwaneh acknowledged that he did not have specific figures.
“I might not quote direct statistics to prove that, but you and I, all of us, know that,” he said.
Because the statement makes a specific comparison about student performance based on publicly available examination results, DUBAWA examined WASSCE performance data from the two administrations to determine whether the available evidence supports the claim.
Verification
DUBAWA reviewed available data on The Gambia’s performance in the WASSCE, focusing on 2007 to 2016, covering the final decade of Yahya Jammeh’s administration, and 2017 to 2026, covering the period under President Adama Barrow.
The review considered indicators including candidate participation and performance against university-entry requirements.
WASSCE performance under President Barrow
Data covering the period 2017–2026 show an increase in the number of students participating in the WASSCE.
The data also indicate improvements in several key performance indicators, although challenges remain, particularly in the proportion of candidates meeting university-entry requirements.
Below 👇 is a summary of Grade 12 performance under President Adama Barrow
The figures show that increased participation has been accompanied by changes in student performance, challenging the assertion that Grade 12 WASSCE performance has generally worsened under the Barrow administration.
WASSCE performance under former President Jammeh
DUBAWA also reviewed WASSCE data covering 2007–2016, the final decade of Yahya Jammeh’s rule.
The retrospective analysis shows a significant increase in WASSCE candidates during the period. However, despite the growth in participation, performance against key university-entry benchmarks remained relatively low.
A summary of Grade 12 performance over the last decade under former President Yahya Jammeh
A comparison of the two periods therefore does not support the claim that Grade 12 WASSCE performance under President Adama Barrow is poorer than it was during Jammeh’s administration.
What the data show
The comparison should be interpreted carefully because WASSCE results can be influenced by several factors, including changes in the number of candidates, school enrolment, examination standards, access to education, and the criteria used to determine successful candidates.
However, based on the WASSCE figures reviewed by DUBAWA, the available evidence does not show an overall deterioration in Grade 12 performance under the Barrow administration compared with the final decade of the Jammeh era. Rather, the data indicate improvements in several key performance indicators, although challenges remain, particularly in the proportion of candidates meeting university-entry requirements.
For instance, while participation increased from 11,600 in 2016 to 20,610 in 2026, the non-qualification rate fell slightly. In 2016, the failure or non-qualification rate was 95.4%, but in the 2026 data, it fell to 94.3%.
Instead, the data point to improvements in key performance indicators, while also highlighting persistent challenges in meeting university-entry requirements.
Suwaneh did not provide statistics or other evidence to substantiate his assertion that WASSCE performance is poorer today than it was during Jammeh’s era.
Conclusion
Hagie Suwaneh’s claim that Grade 12 WASSCE performance in The Gambia is poorer under President Adama Barrow than it was during former President Yahya Jammeh’s administration is false.
The WASSCE data DUBAWA reviewed indicate improvements in several key performance indicators under the Barrow administration, although significant challenges remain, particularly in meeting university-entry requirements.