Subject aversion in Ghana: emotional, instructional and social influences

Background Subject aversion – a persistent emotional or cognitive resistance towards specific academic subjects – is a barrier to effective learning in sub-Saharan Africa, rooted in emotional, pedagogical, and contextual dynamics. It often results in lowered engagement, performance and self-efficacy, affecting students’ motivation and long-term learning trajectories. While traditional surveys provide limited insights into students’ views and experiences of schooling, social media offers a rich, naturalistic window into public sentiment.Purpose This study investigates patterns of subject aversion among Ghanaian learners, identifying the subjects which elicited the strongest negative emotional responses, and examining the underlying instructional and socio-emotional factors that sustained these.Method Drawing on 2900 Facebook comments from 955 users responding to a post on TV3 Ghana in April 2025 – a widely followed media platform with large national reach – the study employed a mixed-method design integrating quantitative frequency analysis and qualitative thematic interpretation. Comments, primarily in English, were cleaned, coded and analysed sequentially.Findings Technical Studies, Mathematics and French emerged as the most frequently disliked subjects. Aversion was driven by fear-based discipline, cognitive abstraction, perceived irrelevance, rote instruction and peer ridicule. Five core themes were identified: teacher-driven fear and punishment; cognitive complexity and abstraction; perceived irrelevance; an overloaded curriculum and rote learning; and peer and social influence.Conclusions Subject aversion in Ghana arises less from the inherent difficulty of subjects than from pedagogical and emotional factors embedded in classroom culture. Promoting learner-centred pedagogy, empathetic teacher training and emotionally supportive classrooms is essential for reducing aversion and fostering long-term engagement.