The JAMB 2025 failure crisis has once more confronted Nigerians with the poor state of Nigeria’s education. It was said that merely 400,000 candidates among over 1.9 million recorded a score of above 200 in the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME). The massive number fueled indignation on social media, state-wide forums, and scores of questions.
On X (formerly Twitter), #JAMB2025Failure trended for days. Students, parents, and teachers each had something to say. Some blamed it on laziness and distractions. Others blamed Nigeria’s poor education infrastructure. Some went as far as calling it a societal failure. But one thing is sure: this isn’t just about low test scores. It’s a reflection of a greater crisis in Nigeria’s education system.
The Alarming Data: JAMB 2025 by the Numbers
The 2025 JAMB failure scandal cannot be separated from the statistics. The 400,000 who scored above 200 constitute barely over 21% of the candidates. Compared to this, the 2023 results showed that over 610,000 students cleared the same hurdle, just over 32% of the total.
That’s a drop of nearly 10% in two years. Worse still, over 25% of students scored below 150, leaked figures compiled byPremium Times showed. The JAMB Registrar described the outcome as “deeply concerning and in need of urgent review.”
These figures show the crisis is not something that occurred one-off—it’s the product of years of neglect, poor planning, and institutional failure.
Are the Students to Blame?
According to critics, it is the students who are to blame. The distractions are real; social networking, cell phone games, and entertainment content occupy significant time daily. Nigerian youths spend an average of 4–6 hours per day online, with most of this time spent on non-educational websites.
But this is not the whole story. Many students worked day and night. They spent cash on past questions, went to tutorials, and avoid distractions. Still, they did not pass.
Students today are handed a losing hand—overcrowded classrooms, underqualified instructors, and outdated materials. Whole curricula aren’t covered in some schools because they lack teachers or have slow financing. It’s not fair—and not useful—to blame students alone.
A Failing System: Infrastructure and Curriculum Gaps
Nigerian schooling has been bedeviled by structural factors for a long time. The failure of JAMB 2025 is a spin-off of the issues. Government schools remain starved of funds. Others lack chairs, textbooks, and working laboratories. The children in the rural areas take CBT exams without having ever laid eyes on a computer in school.
The curriculum is another issue. There is obviously a disconnect between what is taught and what is tested. While WAEC emphasizes understanding and reasoning, JAMB demands speed and memorization. Students must prepare for both simultaneously, with little help.
Even the CBT centers are not free from flaws. In 2025, a few reports surfaced about power failure, computer crash, and login failure during the exams. For the majority of the candidates, failure was the only option before they sat for the exam.
Not only is the system inaccessible—it is also unreliable.
The Role of Teachers: Underpaid and Underequipped
Teachers are the cornerstone of education, yet they’re perhaps some of the most under-valued. The majority of public school teachers earn much less than private school teachers. They don’t even have resources, training, or respect.
Some states’ teachers don’t get paid for months. Some have classrooms of over 80 students, so it’s impossible to teach. Without support, even the best teachers fail.
A Lagos educator anonymously reported: “We do our best, but the fact is we’re burnt out. We can’t give what we don’t have.”
Until the teachers are properly trained, properly equipped, and properly motivated, the system will not change—and the JAMB 2025 failure drama will repeat itself.
Society’s Role: Misplaced Priorities
Beyond the classroom, society also contributes to this crisis. Nigerian society, over the years, has lost its values. Celebrities, influencers, and scammers are more valued than intellectuals or academics. Teenagers see this and wonder: what’s the point of education?
Parents themselves are most often in economic distress and therefore cannot monitor or help their children with studies. Others help in family activities or engage in part-time jobs after school. Books are relegated to the background in these cases.
Worst of all, religious groups and community leaders scarcely emphasize the value of formal education. Adolescent boys in some communities are more encouraged to be apprenticed to artisans than to study for a degree.
When education is no longer of national importance, its demise is imminent.
So, Who Is to Blame?
Everyone shares some of the blame:
Students must adopt better study habits, reduce distractions, and approach education with seriousness.
The system has to be overhauled—more funds, better training, and integration with curriculum are imperatives.
Society must stop congratulating itself on unnecessarily acquired wealth and start paying homage to intellectual achievement.
This is not a finger-pointing age. It’s an age of reflection, reform, and responsibility.
The Way Forward: Solutions, Not Excuses
Nigeria must get moving. Here’s how:
Invest more in public education. Libraries, laboratories, power, and connectivity are needed in schools.
Repair JAMB and WAEC alignment. Let students study one harmonized curriculum and be examined for what they learn.
Substitute CBT infrastructure. No more failures of the computer system in national examinations.
Empower teachers. Reward them well, train them constantly, and give them lighter workloads.
Put emphasis on educational values. Use media, music, and influencers to bring honor back to learning.
And most importantly, offer career direction and psychological counseling in secondary schools. Many students fail not because they cannot—but because they are lost and not guided.
Conclusion
The JAMB 2025 failure scandal is a reflection of our collective failure. Students, systems, and society were guilty. But where there is collective responsibility, there is also collective power—the power to transform.
If Nigeria’s going to have a brighter future, it must forge it in the classroom. It’s not about higher grades and reform. Reform is about shaping thinkers, leaders, and fixers. The crisis is real—but so too is the capacity to mend it.
