NewStats: 3,263,159 , 8,179,286 topics. Date: Wednesday, 04 June 2025 at 09:28 PM 2b4n2e

Deborah did not cry; She just stared. When 17-year-old Deborah Ajayi saw her 2025 UTME score 187 out of 400 her silence said everything. Just months earlier, she had excelled in the WASSCE with strong grades in Mathematics and Physics. She dreamed of studying engineering. But one exam crushed that dream not because she was unprepared, but because the system was never built to her.

She is not alone. Of the nearly two million candidates who sat for the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), only 22.13 percent scored 200 and above. More than 1.5 million students were left stranded, shamed, and shut out.

These numbers do not reflect laziness or lack of ambition. They are symptoms of a broken system, fractured curriculum, undertrained teachers, failing infrastructure, and systemic neglect. And nowhere is this failure more obvious than in the growing disconnect between what students are taught for WASSCE and what they are tested on by JAMB.

“In any functional education system, examination conditions are designed to test knowledge, not endurance. But in Nigeria, the examination day itself becomes another battlefield for survival.”

Curriculum Chaos: When WASSCE and JAMB Speak in Different Tongues
At the core of Nigeria’s exam failure epidemic is a dangerous misalignment. The WASSCE curriculum emphasises structured, predictable content: basic arithmetic in Mathematics, definitions and formulae in Physics. But students walk into the UTME hall and encounter abstract concepts they were never taught.

JAMB tests them on logic, data interpretation, calculus-level reasoning, and obscure physics applications: content well outside the reach of the average public school classroom.

This disted approach is not merely a gap; it is a gulf. Students are taught one thing and tested on another, and failure becomes inevitable. Yet year after year, the education authorities insist on defending the structure, as though rigour and fairness were mutually exclusive.

It begs the question: if two major exit examinations meant to assess the same academic journey diverge so drastically in content and expectation, who exactly is the curriculum designed to serve?

A system that Doesn’t Teach, then Punishes for not Knowing
What Nigeria has built is not an education system; it is an obstacle course. Teachers, often underpaid and barely trained, are handed outdated curricula with no accompanying resources.

Public schools groan under the weight of overcrowded classrooms, defunct laboratories, and chalkboard science. Private schools, meanwhile, offer simulator-based learning, curated mock tests, and strategic exam prep, giving their students an unfair edge.

The result is a two-tiered system that masquerades as meritocracy. It pretends to assess knowledge, but in truth, it merely reinforces inequality. One child is trained to jump hurdles; the other is asked to fly without wings. Only one is expected to succeed.

Exams at Dawn, Dreams at Dusk
Then there is the small matter of logistics or lack thereof. JAMB continues to schedule exams for as early as 6:30 a.m., ignoring the security risks, the transport chaos, and the mental pressure such decisions impose on students. These conditions not only compromise performance; they erode confidence and create trauma.

In any functional education system, examination conditions are designed to test knowledge, not endurance. But in Nigeria, the examination day itself becomes another battlefield for survival.


The Temptation to Lower the Bar and Why that’s the Wrong Battle
In response to the abysmal results, there is increasing pressure to reduce the minimum cut-off mark. But that is not a solution; rather, it is a surrender. Lowering the bar does not make education more accessible; it dilutes it. It does not fix the curriculum crisis; it masks it.

A score of 200 out of 400 is already a modest benchmark. To lower it further is to it defeat and, worse, to trap students in universities unprepared for the rigours of higher education. The real issue is not that the bar is too high. It’s that the ladder to reach it has been pulled away. 22 percent ed. So what happens to the other 78?

Some have argued that a 22 percent rate is “not bad”, noting that over 430,000 candidates scored above 200, more than enough to fill Nigeria’s federal universities. But this argument is both cynical and dangerous. It treats education not as a right but as a privilege for the few. It ignores the millions who are left behind, year after year, with no explanation, no second chances, and no reform in sight.

What happens to them? Do we simply discard them? Are their aspirations less valid? The purpose of public education should not be to eliminate but to elevate.

The Reckoning Ahead: Harmonize or Collapse
The way forward is clear. Nigeria must harmonize the WASSCE and JAMB syllabuses. There must be coherence between what is taught and what is tested. Teachers must be equipped with the tools and training to deliver a modern, practical curriculum. Infrastructure must be rebuilt, digital learning integrated, and ability enforced at every level.

More importantly, policymakers must stop treating education reform as an election slogan. The future of the country depends not on oil, not on aid, not on foreign investment but on the quality of its human capital.

A Nation in Crisis Cannot Afford Educational Pretence.
The 2025 UTME results are more than a statistic; they are a symptom of a deeper rot. The problem is not just that students failed. It is that the system set them up to fail and is now punishing them for it.

Until Nigeria confronts this reality, until it aligns its curriculum, invests in its schools, and respects the intelligence of its children, it will continue to produce more failures in the future. And the tragedy will not just be measured in scores. It will be counted in lost generations.

https://businessday.ng/features/article/the-great-betrayal-how-nigeria-is-setting-its-students-up-to-fail/

Government really needs to investigate on how to mitigate the factors responsible for mass failure and failing standard of education in Nigeria today

The gulf between WASCE and Jamb is like between O'levels and discontinued A'levels, and has been in place since the later was scrapped, unfortunately. But Nigeria is simply using it to limit graduates, since no work is found for most.

Wise parents are ensuring their children learn skills from like 12 years old. Just thought I'd say.

Never trust the O'level results of Nigerian students. They're often misleading, with many A’s and B’s coming from examination malpractice. JAMB remains the only credible exam in Nigeria that genuinely assesses secondary school students and reflects their true abilities.

It is high time we introduce CBT in all school exams (both internal and external). That's the most viable way of curbing exam malpractice.

Our educational system as a whole is rubbish. Knowledge is power, we can never rub shoulders with global powers with this poor educational systems.

Ike gwuru

Zoo Republic

hmm

Jamb should set their questions based on ss3 curriculum only, this set of students can't what they learnt from ss1-ss2.....

And we should also switch to an IQ system of schooling, a child with a high IQ should not be placed in the same class with someone that's a slow learner...

The reading habit and sense of urgency is also gone, this kids don't care at all, all they do is press phone from morning till night... They have access to YouTube and access to many free platforms of learning but dem no dey use am....


U can't compare waec or neco to jamb, let waec start Cbt first and make sure they install cctv cameras like jamb in the hall to combat cheating.... Na then una go know wetin dey xup

Sometimes i feel we have perpetual bitter 'agbotikuyo' people in our lovely nation.

I didn't read the write up because i know it was going to promote the ill feeling of a certain people.

Most young chaps have taken to quick money making and have refused to pay attention to studies and study hard for their good. Education is not a scam.

Believe me, even 419 that was well known has faded, Y@hoo will fade too and then people will begin see how education is a serious business.

Nobody is setting the students up for failure. We make excuse for everything.

The unnecessary exam I must tell you.

papyjaypaul:


My dear, I didn't want to respond to you because I found it hard to read your comment but you know what? When was JAMB found? 1978

When were the premier universities found?
Were students not going to school before JAMB?
Are the number of universities we have today the same we had in 1978?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgvVwoJzbxk

Can 4 subjects determine your future or 8 subjects that WAEC gives? Why not let the universities determine their exams for entry into respective courses instead of 4 relevant courses from JAMB to narrow to areas of interest?

Also I asked you what was used before 1978. That will show you how old or young you are to understand the system we had before JAMB. You think JAMB is a check to universities?

"The West African Examinations Council General Certificate Examination (WAEC GCE) is widely recognized, and many international universities accept it for ission."

A lot of people don't know this until they want to travel abroad or the parents are tired of having a child's destiny on hold for 1 year. I will invest more in WAEC and scrap NECO, which is another fraud they invented to lower education quality standards.

The only reason JAMB has been here so long since the Federal Military Government set up the establishment for is corruption. The current Registrar has also shown us that the government could have been making more money than the past because he is the first to return money to government. That means the government has been wasting money on budget spendings when the institution could have survived on its own. There is also corruption at the university level, which JAMB tried to solve but is not solving it today.

Each year Nigeria doesn't allow its youth to be in schools because of JAMB, they are killing dreams and giving other countries the blessings we could have had. The secondary school system is the one we should make strong because any fraud that es JAMB will be found out in the universities. JAMB doesn't do anything about the education system, it's just another roadblock to progress and a badge of honor to Nigerians who love schadenfreude.

I think it's about time,these exams are written at home,my opinion though.

Lol

Chai

Too much talk about jamb. Where will the 450,000 who ed be itted into.

I totally agree

All these people above me have comprehension problem, or they simply didnt read

Hmmm.

These numbers do not reflect laziness or lack of ambition. They are symptoms of a broken system, fractured curriculum, undertrained teachers, failing infrastructure, and systemic neglect.

The system, the teachers and the learners need to sit up to make it work.
Focusing on everyone and everything except the learners themselves will only make matters worse than they already are.
A lot of the kids being taught today are already making money on social media. The same social media tells them that school is a scam.

No worry bubu no go school tilumbu no go
School too

Racoon:
Government really needs to investigate on how to mitigate the factors responsible for mass failure and failing standard of education in Nigeria today

They are more interested in 2027. Normally mass failure like this should warrant the sack of education minister and an overhaul of the system, but......2027.

Those students will enroll again, more money for the tax collector. A failed educational system.

That's sad. Our mindset should have fully shifted away from viewing higher degrees as automatic employment license, it has never been for over 30 years.

We need a well educated population and this should not be limited. However,
JAMB standard must never be lowered. Rather, it is our high school curriculum/standard that must be raised including WAEC or the other unnecessary joke called NECO.

budaatum:
The gulf between WASCE and Jamb is like between O'levels and discontinued A'levels, and has been in place since the later was scrapped, unfortunately. But Nigeria is simply using it to limit graduates, since no work is found for most.

Wise parents are ensuring their children learn skills from like 12 years old. Just thought I'd say.

Jamb is set up to filter, not be a stepping stone

See the Minister gleefully saying they succeeded in stopping cheating. Are those the brains, proactive minds meant to pilot the next generation of youths into tertiary institutions? Those clowns have an unwritten war against youths and they see failure as wins on their part because it fattens their ego and stereotype.


Yes, there's loads of unserious one. But what of the serious ones too? What of the innocent, dedicated ones caught up in this mess of divergent curriculum?


And most importantly, the psychological effect of the time they set for exams.

In 2015, due to circumstances beyond control, i saw jambitee boarding buses to write their exams in Ibadan as early as 5am. That's not a time for these kids to be all over the suburbs, brimming with anxiety.


Lots of crap exists in the system, especially the personnel involved.

Jamb alone is responsible for the 250% hike in interstate movement and something needs to be done about that because it is part of the problem.

And lastly, parents need to do their part. A decade ago, scoring 220 was like a smear among youths so they don't say the score out loud. But today, 180 is heroic. Another irony is students that scoring 240-300 never gained ission but 180-200 finally gave them ission after becoming perennial sitters for jamb. Those high scores become useless. That should not happen.

Alright

nolzautoez:
Never trust the O'level results of Nigerian students. They're often misleading, with many A’s and B’s coming from examination malpractice. JAMB remains the only credible exam in Nigeria that genuinely assesses secondary school students and reflects their true abilities.

So you are okay with the corruption in the school system. You don't know the damage this does until you go outside the country. Every normal country should not have examination malpractice as the norm. If our exams cannot be trusted, we are in trouble. Come to think of it, if you JAMB that you say is credible and fail postUTME that may be compromised, what problem does it solve? Corruption is a monster and we should treat it before it swallows us at all levels.

By the way, I agree with you. CBT exams make the students study harder especially for a country like Nigeria where people want to cut corners, however we must consider that we don't have the infrastructure. Fix light, give us power, increase the number of centers. These are infrastructural things you don't face in normal countries but on the other hand, kids today can't write so you still need the traditional method of writing. I will suggest WAEC makes the option questions CBT and the other part physical writing. This is 2025, we should have a question bank that can give 100 different essay questions to combat cheating. Cheating is not a Nigerian thing, in Algeria or one of those countries, I think the government had to ban internet for the school exams. Where Nigeria is on cheating is like child's play compared to India

to a CBT exam, you MUST have practiced on a computer. reading from paper is different from reading on a PC, especially in an exam setting. i think this is part of the issue . i experienced this while practicing for the gre years agio. i had multiple text books and i kept acing the test on paper. them i installed the software on my pc and went at it. it was HARD. so i had to train myself on taking the exam on a PC. take a person without regular access to a PC and you may have these issues. then there are the unreported issues. centers having PC failures in the middle of the exam, with no solution.

It's actually true. The methods of these two exams are worlds apart.

You can see the nexus and correlation in the percentage that ed and the percentage that voted in the last Presidential election.

It's not just the education system, the entire system in the country has collapsed. There's aparthy in almost everything in the country.

Why would any student take education serious again when they can see how their leaders are stealing and looting away their future?

Very frustrating Academic Structures... And Nigeria as a country having more leaders who have no Academic experience are busy preparing Their own children who studied abroad to come and take over from them in further destroying Educational system and other sectors at Large...thereby sabotaging the efforts of those who really merit the goal of academic in Nigeria..