Dr George Asiamah: Meet the Lecturer Who Scored Four Fs in WASSCE but Teaches at Oxford
- Dr George Asiamah, a lecturer at Exeter College, University of Oxford, opened up about failing his secondary school exams in Ghana in 2003
- The Ghanaian political economist scored four Fs and three Es in his SSSCE, with failures in Mathematics, English Language, Economics and Geography
- Dr Asiamah revealed he had stopped attending school regularly in the period leading up to the examinations, compounding the difficult result
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A Ghanaian political economist at the University of Oxford has revealed that his academic journey began with one of the most demoralising results a student can receive, scoring four Fs and three Es in his Senior Secondary School Certificate Examinations in 2003.
Dr George Asiamah, now a fellow, tutor and lecturer at Exeter College, shared the story during an interview with Kafui Dey, reflecting on a journey that took him from a village in Kumasi in the Ashanti Region to one of the world's most prestigious universities.
Source: Facebook
Dr George Asiamah: From SSSCE failure to Oxford fellow
In 2003, Dr Asiamah sat his secondary school examinations and received Fs in Mathematics, English Language, Economics and Geography, and Es in Integrated Science, Social Studies and Government. He admitted that he had anticipated struggling in some subjects but had not prepared himself for the scale of what arrived.
"I was expecting to fail some subjects, but then I thought I'd get some D's or C's in it...So, I lost myself, and I didn't know where I was standing at the time," he said.
His circumstances at the time were particularly difficult. As a day student, he was the only person from his village attending secondary school, commuting approximately five kilometres each day to reach campus. The village itself lacked basic amenities, and he acknowledged that his attendance had become inconsistent in the period before the examinations.
"I was not attending school at a point in time because I was a day student and I happened to be the only person from my village attending secondary school. So I would stay in the house. I wouldn't go. So during the mock exam period, I just go right and come back and then stay. I wouldn't go to campus again. I was just back home playing, just doing nothing basically," he recounted.
Receiving the results was painful. Dr Asiamah described walking back to his village alone, uncertain about what lay ahead.
"That was the first disgrace I experienced...I can't even remember how I got to my village and I just folded it," he said.
The Instagram video is below:
Dr George Asiamah: A 20-Year Journey to Oxford
Despite the setback, Dr Asiamah continued his education. He went on to earn a degree in Economics from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), before studying at Queen's University Belfast as a Commonwealth Scholar and later at the University of Sheffield as a Grantham Scholar. He completed his PhD in 2023.
His first visit to Oxford came in 2014, while he was studying for his master's degree in Belfast, when he passed through the city as a tourist. By 2025, he had returned with an office at Exeter College, where he now teaches political theory, comparative politics and political economy.
"My first time I went to Oxford was in 2014 when I started my master's degree. And if I fast forward from 2014 to 2025, then I'm there no longer just as a tourist or as a visitor, but then I have an office space," he said.
Reflecting on the gap between 2003 and his current position, Dr Asiamah noted: "It was basically 20 years apart. I finished my SSSE in 2003."
The Instagram video is below:
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Source: YEN.com.gh
