By any standard, the 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination results are distressing. Out of 1,957,000 candidates, just over 420,000 scored above the 200-mark threshold, signifying a dismal pass rate of 22 per cent.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, had said that the results vindicated the government’s efforts to crack down on cheating and improve exam integrity. However, the bigger picture is that of an educational system in decline.
While the era of “special centres” and organised exam fraud within the UTME appears to be fading, the learning gaps are now being exposed. Without inflated scores and doctored results, the woeful truth is that millions of Nigerian students are not being adequately prepared for higher education.
These results signal a comprehensive collapse of the structures meant to educate them. Poor funding, inadequate infrastructure, outdated curricula, and unqualified teachers have combined to ensure the dysfunction of Nigeria’s education system at every level.
Schools are overcrowded, learning materials are inadequate, and digital resources remain out of reach for most. There is no motivation to study.
In rural communities, students still learn under trees, while in urban centres, parents pay exorbitant fees for mediocre instruction. Official figures now put out-of-school children at 18.3 million or 22 per cent of the global total.
While the National Policy on Education recommends a teacher-to-student ratio of 1:25 for pre-primary, 1:35 for primary, and 1:40 for secondary, many schools, especially public institutions, experience much higher ratios, sometimes exceeding 80 pupils per teacher. The global average is around 25 students per teacher.
Education courses in Nigerian universities and colleges of education are reserved for those with the lowest UTME scores rather than brilliant minds. Most teachers lack proper training and support; they struggle to deliver lessons in ways that build critical thinking, digital literacy, or real-world skills while constantly looking for opportunities in other sectors.
This must change if Nigeria’s youth are to have a place, let alone compete in an increasingly digitalised world.
In government schools, teachers are more concerned about side hustles than about teaching. Examination malpractice has long masked these weaknesses.
For years, students, schools, and parents colluded to produce fraudulent results. Now that JAMB has made cheating far more difficult, the inadequacy of Nigeria’s basic and secondary education has become impossible to ignore.
In recent years, universities have raised concerns about the poor academic quality of many incoming students. Some lack foundational knowledge in mathematics, English, and basic sciences.
Others have no grasp of how to engage with computer-based testing, despite living in a digital world. This is why universities insist on conducting post-UTME exams. The problem is not only about what students know, but also about what they were never taught.
The situation demands urgent, far-reaching intervention. Stakeholders across the country, including parents, teachers’ unions, academics, and civil society groups, have been unanimous in their call for serious reforms.
Increased funding alone will not suffice. There must be a complete overhaul of the education system that prioritises training and retaining high-quality teachers with attractive compensation packages to prepare young people for the realities of a 21st-century world.
Finland and Germany require teachers to hold master’s degrees. South Korea and China are also known for their highly respected and well-compensated teaching profession, with a strong emphasis on academic excellence. The results are obvious.
Nigeria’s ruling elite send their children and wards abroad for quality education but fail to copy the good examples from systems from which they have directly benefitted.
Computer-based learning must be standard, from the most remote local government school to the top federal institutions.
The curriculum must be updated to reflect real-world skills, and education must become less about rote and more about building problem-solving minds.
Nigeria must end the reign of mediocrity in the teaching profession and return value to merit.
