JAMB Crisis in Nigeria: Are We Failing the Future of Our Youth?
What can the nation do to address the declining exam scores?
Anxious, optimistic, and motivated to get into a university through the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), hundreds of thousands of young Nigerians enter exam rooms each year. However, fewer come out each year with the outcomes they require. The data presents a concerning picture: fewer applicants meet university cut-off scores. However, there are other reasons for this failure, as with most things in Nigeria. The problem is systemic.
Exams serve as mirrors reflecting the environment in which learning takes place and are more than just evaluations of students’ aptitude. That mirror is broken in JAMB’s situation.
Parents, teachers, schools, government policy, peers, and institutions themselves have all influenced the nationwide performance crisis.
Parents: The initial educators
Home is where learning starts. However, far too many Nigerian households are no longer strongholds of order or curiosity. Many parents delegate their children’s education to underpaid tutors and overworked schools. Few establish limitations on digital distraction or serve as role models for intellectual engagement. Reading is a fundamental cognitive development habit that is developed by example rather than by order. Students struggle when parents don’t take the lead.
Teachers: A crisis-affected workforce
The foundation of any educational system is its teachers, but in Nigeria, that foundation is collapsing. Many people enter the field out of need rather than vocation. There is uneven enforcement of the Nigerian Certificate in Education (NCE) requirement at the national level. Teachers in underfunded schools are forced to oversee packed classrooms without the necessary supplies or assistance. Instead of inspiring, the outcome is a pedagogy of survival. Even worse, the culture of cheating undermines the fundamentals of academic honesty and is occasionally condoned by educators.
Schools: Impactless infrastructure
Although Nigerian schools are physical places, they frequently lack the equipment needed for contemporary education. Computer labs are nonexistent, labs are idle, and libraries are deserted. Students still study under trees in rural places. Even the most driven students struggle to succeed in an unsupportive learning environment. Additionally, standards fall even more when schools ignore academic misconduct or utilize lenient cut-off grades as a means of collecting money.
The State: Passive regulator, no legislator
The tone is set by the federal and state governments. Regretfully, they have taken on an abdicatory tone. Funding is insufficient, supervision is lax, and educational policies are inconsistent. By overseeing the gradual deterioration of university entrance requirements, the Ministry of Education has normalized mediocrity. Merit and the motivation to achieve it have diminished in the process.
Students are being expected to perform well in a system that has not adequately prepared them for it, which is a cruel paradox.
The allure of diversion and peers
The environment has an impact on students. Social media frequently amplifies peer pressure, which puts the superficial above the intellectual. Books compete with screens, and immediate satisfaction takes precedence over long-term planning. Technology is more frequently used as a distraction than as a learning aid. The lack of digital literacy initiatives and secure online learning environments is just as much of a problem as the students themselves.
JAMB: The criticized gatekeeper
JAMB serves as a high-stakes filter for higher education, connecting secondary schools and postsecondary institutions. However, it is also subject to criticism. In principle, the computer-based test (CBT) approach is progressive, but in reality, it excludes people. Digital fluency is poor, and millions of Nigerian pupils, particularly those in rural regions, lack access to working computers. Exam schedules are frequently disorganized, testing facilities are overcrowded, and support services are inadequate. Even worse, schools and candidates are left in the dark by JAMB’s ambiguous grading scheme.
Expanding access to digital training resources, publishing transparent grading criteria, and investing in pre-exam sensitization are all necessary if JAMB is to rebuild trust. Transparency, equity, and flexibility are fundamental; they are not optional.
A ministry without a mission but with a mandate
Instead of leading the national response, the Ministry of Education has taken a backseat role. Without taking significant action, it has watched standards deteriorate. We need to recalibrate. It must first crack down on schools’ exploitative tactics. Secondly, it needs to establish and implement stronger teacher admission requirements. Third, it has to reconsider the national cut-off mark structure in order to counteract the gradual normalization of poor performance.
Not just sticks, but carrots.
Low expectations afflict Nigeria’s educational system, yet high expectations are insufficient on their own. Rewards are important. The billions of dollars that JAMB makes each year may be used to fund scholarships for exceptional students. Motivation is bred by recognition, and motivation can turn into momentum.
The solution: repairing a malfunctioning system
Nigeria has to:
✔Parents: Commit to actively participating in their children’s education by limiting screen time, promoting reading, and keeping an eye on their development to reverse the decrease.
✔Teachers: Establish performance-based compensation, enhance training, and mandate NCE minimum standards.
✔Schools: Invest in infrastructure, combat exam fraud, and collaborate with tech companies to offer computer literacy initiatives.
✔Government: Stop reducing cutoff scores, penalize schools that take advantage of lax standards, and adequately support education.
✔JAMB: Decentralize CBT centers, offer scholarships to top scorers, and make grading standards more transparent.
Hope is not a rule.
In the end, it is a mistake to believe that suffering now will lead to success tomorrow, particularly if people who are required to endure the suffering are already undernourished, untrained, and unprepared. The JAMB crisis affects the economy, society, and morality in addition to education. Nigeria must prioritize saving its examination system and the larger educational system if it is serious about progress.
Too many young people in Nigeria are currently being failed before they have even had the opportunity to fail themselves.
No more justifications
Nigeria cannot afford to produce more graduates with inadequate education. A sign of institutional failure, the drop in JAMB scores necessitates accountability at all levels. Responsibility must be assumed by parents, educators, schools, legislators, and students themselves.
It is essential to Nigeria’s economic future.
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