…Stakeholders x-ray causative factors
The grim reality of the rapidly falling education standard in Nigeria has stunned the entire nation once again.
Out of the 1,955,069 candidates who sat for the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination, (UTME) across Nigeria, only about 420,000, a paltry 22 per cent of the candidates scored above 200, while more than 78 per cent failed to meet the 200-mark threshold.
The outcome of the 2025 UTME once again indicated a further dip in the preparedness and performance of candidates seeking admission into higher institutions of learning in Nigeria, thereby raising grave concerns about the standard of education in the country as well as the future of the Nigerian youths.
Since 2013, when the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, introduced the Computer Based Testing (CBT) option as a way to curb the rising cases of examination malpractice , analysts observed that the performances of candidates sitting for the UTME on a yearly basis have taken a downward turn.
For instance, in 2010, a period of three years before the introduction of CBT by JAMB, 40 per cent of candidates who sat for the UTME in the year scored 200 and above.
However, in 2015, two years into the introduction of CBT, candidates’ performance dropped as only 30 per cent of those who wrote the examination in the year scored 200 and above.
Candidates’ performances in the examination have since then been on a downward trajectory with 24 per cent making the 200 mark threshold in 2019; 23 per cent met the benchmark in 2023 and now in 2025, only 22 per cent of the candidates who participated in the just concluded UTME scored 200 and above.
JAMB is receiving the accolades for succeeding in tightening the noose around examination cheats and protecting the integrity of its examination and results.
The Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa, attributed the high failure rate at the 2025 UTME to an indication that the anti-malpractice measures adopted by JAMB are working effectively.
In his response to the poor performance of candidates in the examination while speaking on a national television last Tuesday, the minister said: “That’s a big concern, and it’s a reflection of exams being done the proper way. JAMB conducts its exam using a computer-based testing system. They’ve implemented strong security measures, and as a result, fraud or cheating has been completely eliminated.”
However, for candidates, their parents, the school and the government whose ineptitude takes the lion share of the blame over the rots in the nation’s education sector and its concomitant degeneration into a national shame as seen in this UTME results, the backlashes have been in torrents.
An educationist and Principal at Russell International School, Lekki, Lagos, Mr. Taofik Sunmonu, blamed the unenviable performance of candidates who took part in this year’s UTME on a number of factors including lack of seriousness and distractions on the part of the candidates. According to him, the current generation of students face numerous distractions that hinder their academic pursuits.
He identified addiction to social media, video games, and other digital sources of entertainment as chief culprits among factors that continue to deplete students’ enthusiasm for academic glory. “Majority of students struggle to maintain focus, and their attention span is often limited due to their addiction to social media and modern gadgets. Another crucial factor is inadequate parental involvement in their children’s academics. While schools play a significant role in shaping students’ academics, parents must also take active interest in their child’s education. Unfortunately, many parents are nonchalant, relying solely on schools to ensure their wards’ academic success. Regular check-ins by parents, monitoring progress, and providing support are essential for a student’s academic growth,” Sunmonu posited.
Sunmonu would not absolve JAMB totally from this year’s performance as he noted that hitches in the arrangements by the examination body also contributed to the high failure rate.
“Furthermore, the delay in starting the examination, where some students had to wait for one to three hours behind the scheduled time, is also likely to have contributed to the poor performance. This delay would have frustrated the students, setting a negative tone for the examination,” he noted.
Olabisi Faith, a PhD student, Faculty of Education, University of Lagos attributed students’ woeful performance in examinations to poor foundation and profiteering by owners of private schools who continue to churn out students with indefensible grades from their schools.
“In my opinion, the reason for the poor performance is foundational. It started a long time ago and we are actually reaping the fruit of the problem. The problem is that a lot of people come into education with the mindset of making profit, not to train students to achieve academic excellence. For instance, we have a lot of private schools, both secondary and universities, even though I am not against private schools, but most private schools are there just to make money. Most students from private schools make A’s in their WAEC results which they cannot defend; because they operate special centers. So, these private schools are not actually making students gain the knowledge and do it themselves, schools rather do it for students to gain admission,” Olabisi stated.
Like Sunmonu, Olabisi also blamed parents for their carefree disposition to their children’s education.
“Parents must also share in the blame. They think their money can do everything. Some parents will engage the services of teachers to teach their children but will not monitor their children’s academic progress. When young students in secondary schools are left to spend hours on social media and put their books behind, how will they excel in their examinations?” she queried.
Another educationist, Mr. Rufus Matimoju, said that the dearth of qualified teachers in most Nigerian schools cannot be insulated from the outcome of the 2025 UTME.
“I run a coaching centre and from my interactions with students, I am able to infer that the lack of competent and qualified teachers in our schools is another major contributory factor to poor performance of students in major examinations. We need to beam a proper searchlight on those that we engage to teach these students too. This is one of the areas the government has failed to pay proper attention to. The quality of teachers we have in most schools are nothing to write home about. I think the starting point should be to overhaul the teaching staff in our schools and ensure that those who teach our children are not only qualified teaching personnel, they must also be people who are passionate about imparting knowledge not just people who just want to earn their living from teaching because they cannot get their dreamed job,” he noted.
Dr. Tolu Okoruwa, Head, Department of Early Childhood Care and Education, FCE Abeokuta, Ogun State, viewed Matimoju’s submission from a rather different perspective. According to her, while the dearth of qualified teachers remains a major plague in the nation’s education fabric, Okoruwa maintained that this ill is peculiar to private schools but blamed lack of effective supervision in government-owned schools as a major reason why private schools are the preferred choice of most Nigerians. Her words, “The problem of dearth of qualified teachers only affects private schools. I will tell you that we have master’s degree holders and PhD holders even in some public primary and secondary schools in Nigeria. But it is in the private schools, where the owners want to make more profit that we have the problem of unqualified teachers. Unfortunately most of our children are in private schools. That is the irony. The proprietors in private schools want to pay peanuts because they know that the higher the qualification of a teacher the higher the salary that will be demanded. Unfortunately, in public schools where we have highly trained and qualified teachers, it is very difficult to see the effect because of lack of supervision. Unlike in the private schools, where the teachers are kept on their toes from morning till the closing time, teachers in public schools do not show enough commitment on their job because they are not closely supervised. And because of this, parents decide to withdraw their children to private schools; showing preference for the unqualified but properly supervised teachers in private schools above the highly qualified but lax teachers in our public schools. (Sunday Sun)
