…JAMB asked to reduce cut-off marks to accommodate more students
…more than 75% candidates score below 200
In the face of abysmal results in the 2025 Unified Matriculation Examination (UTME), stakeholders advocate for curriculum reform and an education approach that reflects Nigeria’s setting, with sustainable investment in basic education and teacher training.
Stanley Alaubi, a senior lecturer at the University of Port Harcourt, who spoke with BusinessDay from the United Kingdom, decried the abysmal result statistical analysis made public by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), describing it as very poor.
Alaubi said the solution to such a terrible result is tailoring the curriculum to reflect the country’s setting and embracing competence-based education.
“The way forward is, our curriculum should be changed to reflect our setting. I’m in the UK currently on my leave. I see that Britons don’t take higher education seriously. They believe more in industrialisation. Everyone works and earns the minimum wage of £12.21 per hour. Their emphasis is on production.
“I think Nigeria should toll the Britain line and produce a curriculum that suits our setting in our African society, such that we can promote our local content and empower the people economically,” he said.
Jessica Osuere, the chief executive officer at RubiesHub Education Services, also called for sustainable investment in basic education and human capital development of teachers to impact the students with quality learning outcomes.
“These poor performances call for urgent and sustained investment in basic education, teacher training, curriculum reform, and equitable access to learning resources.
“These results should serve as a wake-up call to policymakers, educators, and stakeholders to address the root causes and ensure that every Nigerian child has a fair chance at quality education and future success,” she said.
Osuere emphasised that the abysmal result statistics are a reflection of widespread learning gaps, inadequate teaching quality, and systemic underinvestment in education.
She stressed the fact that university education is a serious business because the manpower for national development is built through the system. Hence, the Government should ensure that students admitted into the tertiary institutions have what it takes to in on campus.
This, she reiterated that is one reason the government should invest in technical and entrepreneurship education, so those who cannot meet the requirements to go to universities can have other options to explore.
Possible reasons for the poor results
Olufunmilayo, reacting to the results statistics on X, said it is a shame that over 75% of the students who sat the 2025 URME failed, attributing the outcome of the examination to poor administrative management by JAMB and students’ lackadaisical attitude to education.
“You cannot set an exam for 6:30 am in the morning. which is an incredibly unsafe and dangerous time, then express shock when these kids fail.
“Don’t get me wrong, JAMB’s lunatic timetable is not the only reason why many of them failed. Some of those students are possibly lazy and didn’t read. But when you set an exam and over 75 percent fail, that is less a problem of the students, it’s either you have very bad teachers, or very terrible exam conditions or both,” Olufunmilayo noted.
Lowering the cut-off mark
Osuere argued that with the abysmal performance in UTME, there may be pressure to lower cut-off marks to accommodate more students.
However, she maintained that doing so risks diluting academic standards and undermining the integrity of higher education in Nigeria.
“Remember UTME is over 400, hence, 200 is just half of the total score. If we begin to lower the cut-off mark below that, what sort of students are we going to be producing?
“Our tertiary education is already being questioned around the globe, and we can’t keep lowering the bar to accommodate everyone,” she noted.
Similarly, Alaubi expressed worries that JAMB might be forced to lower the admission bar due to the poor results obtained in the 2025 UTME.
“With this poor result, students must still be admitted, hence the cut-off must drop. Why are the students having poor scores? UTME results should be made to represent the true nature of courses registered for by students,” he said.
According to the statistical analysis of the 2025 UTME result published by JAMB on the board’s official X handle JAMBHQ recently, over 77.87% (about 1.5 million) of the over 1.95 million candidates who sat the examination scored below 200.
However, Friday Erhabor, director of media and strategies at Marklenez Limited, sees the 22% pass rate as okay, considering that it amounts to over 439,000 candidates.
“I doubt if JAMB admit up to that number of candidates every year. So for me, 22% scoring above 200 is not bad,” he said.
