The poor performance of students at the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination has raised concerns over system issues like unqualified teachers dotting the educational landscape, ‘LAOLU AFOLABI writes
About 9.17 million out of a total of 11.9 million candidates
who sat the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination conducted by the Joint
Admissions Matriculation Board between 2018 and 2024 scored below 200 pass
mark.
As the average failure rate in the seven years stands at
78.29 per cent, educationists have identified reasons for the poor performance.
Following the release of the 2024 United Tertiary
Matriculation Examination results by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation
Board, Nigeria finds itself embroiled in a heated debate over the state of its
education system.
The announcement, made by the Registrar, Prof Ishaq Oloyede,
on Monday, April 29, 2024, stirred controversy and concerns among stakeholders
nationwide.
With a total of 1,904,189 candidates sitting the
examination, the revelation that 76.1 per cent scored below 200 out of 400
points sparked discussions on various fronts.
In the results released by JAMB, a total of 1,904,189
candidates sat the examination. While a few results were withheld, the board
released 1,842,464 results, whereby 76.1 per cent of the candidates got less
than 200.
Giving a breakdown, Prof. Oloyede noted that, “8,401
candidates scored 300 and above; 77,070 scored 250 and above; 439,974 scored
200 and above, while 1,402,490 scored below 200.”
On May 7, JAMB cleared and released the results of 531 more
candidates.
A statement by its spokesman, Fabian Benjamin, said this was
part of the 64,000 withheld results for further investigations into possible
examination misconduct.
On May 15, the board released an additional 36,540 results,
taking the total results released to 1,879,437, according to a statement by
Benjamin.
Finally, on Sunday, June 2, 2024, JAMB released an
additional 3,921 results and, in another statement by its spokesperson,
Benjamin, the board said 24,535 would retake the examination.
From systemic flaws to student negligence, the reasons
behind the alarming failure rate are under intense scrutiny.
The development generated a lot of controversies in the
education system. While some are pointing fingers at JAMB for the poor conduct
of the examination, others blame the students for the lacklustre performance.
Relatively a few parents too did not spare the
Computer-Based-Test centres where the examinations were conducted nationwide,
blaming system glitches as the reason for the mass failure.
However, a former Executive Secretary of the National
Universities Commission, Prof Peter Okebukola, commended JAMB Registrar, Prof
Oloyede and his team, saying that with the successful conduct, JAMB had brought
respectability, transparency and credibility to the conduct of public
examinations.
For the poor results in the 2024 examination, some education
stakeholders blamed Nigeria’s educational system, the parents, students and
social media for the failure rate.
The stakeholders, therefore, called for holistic reforms of
the sector and called on the government to act fast to stem the downward trend.
Moreover, as the spotlight shifts to the quality of teaching
personnel, statistics by the Universal Basic Education Commission shed light on
the pervasive issue of unqualified teachers plaguing Nigeria’s basic education
system among other multifaceted challenges facing Nigeria’s educational
landscape in the aftermath of the 2024 UTME results.
Some education stakeholders lamented inadequate teaching
force and an outdated curriculum, some of the factors they said contributed to
the decline in the success rate Nigerian students were noted for.
In 2013, the CBT was officially adopted in Nigeria by the
JAMB for the sole purpose of administering the UTME standardised examinations.
On Monday, March 9, 2015, JAMB imprinted a landmark in its
then 37-year history by beginning the first total CBT. Though CBT was
introduced in 2013, it was not made compulsory until March 9, 2015. The board
had, until the period, relied on Paper-Based Tests.
A look at the history of JAMB shows that the federal
military government set up the examination body with the legal instrument
establishing it promulgated by Act No. 2 of 1978 of the Federal Military
Government on February 13, 1978.
By August 1988, the Federal Executive Council amended Decree
No. 2 of 1978 to empower the board to conduct matriculation examinations for
entry into all polytechnics and colleges of education in the country and to
place suitably qualified candidates in the available places in these
institutions.
Since its establishment, the board has been solely
responsible for the conduct of examinations in the universities and later,
polytechnics and colleges of education across the country.
At the introduction of the CBT in 2015, there were observed
glitches as expected of a new system with teething problems. In 2017, Prof
Oloyede, while announcing the release of the result, lamented the widespread
examination malpractices across the country aided by parents, teachers and CBT
centres.
He disclosed that some of the CBT centres exploited the
candidates by deliberately distorting their data so that they could come back
to pay extra money for corrections. Over the years, the examination body has
been able to stabilise the system.
The failure rate noticeable in the 2024 exercise did not
just begin; it had been a recurring figure since, at least, 2018 when the
examination body commenced reeling out figures of success and failure rates.
In 2018, around 1.19 million students, making 74.1 per cent
of candidates who sat the examination, scored below 200. By 2019, the figure
rose to 1.40 million, 77.0 per cent of students who sat the examination. It
further increased in 2020, with 1.54 million students failing to score at least
200 marks in the UTME, with a 79.2 per cent failure rate.
By 2021, the post-COVID-19 year, 1.14 million candidates
scored below 200, resulting in an 87.2 per cent failure rate. The 2022 and 2023
results were not encouraging either, as 1.33 million and 1.17 million,
representing 77.8 per cent and 76.6 per cent of candidates, scored below 200
pass marks.
A 76.1 failure rate in the 2024 UTME is equated to 760,000
students out of 1,000,000 scoring less than 50 per cent in the exercise. The
development also means that for every 100 students, about 76 scored below
average and could, therefore, not compete favourably with their counterparts.
In a report by Saturday PUNCH, some parents and teachers
argued that there was no justification for the results as released by JAMB, as
some registered candidates could not sit the examination due to network
glitches and a shortage of computer systems.
They thus wondered how JAMB concluded that 76.1 per cent
failed while some were yet to write the examination.
However, as of the time JAMB released the results on April
29, 2024, the examination body had concluded the conduct of the examination.
It announced the total number of 1,842,464 results out of
the over 1.94 million candidates that registered for the examination on April
29, 2024, the last day of the examination.
By Tuesday, May 7, 2024, the examination body released the
results of an additional 531 candidates, taking the total number of results
released to the public to 1,842,897.
Beyond the system glitches and other reports, some Nigerians
blamed the poor performance on social media.
Most of the students were accused of wasting precious study
time on TikTok, Instagram and others. They were busy creating content, instead
of giving the examination the concentration it required.
As usual with examinations, while some will have good
results to show, some other categories of students will lament failure. As JAMB
released the UTME results, some parents and schools celebrated the successes
recorded by their wards. Even some state governors celebrated their high
performers.
A student of St. Anthony’s Secondary School, Ikenga, Imo
State, Master Chijioke Alexander Onuorah, reportedly got a cumulative score of
324, scoring 91 in Physics, 74 in Biology, 92 in Chemistry and 67 in English.
In Kwara State, Governor AbdulRahman AbdulRazaq on his X
handle announced the result of Master Samuel Olanrewaju Oluwasemilore of
Government Secondary School, Omu Aran, who scored 358 in the exams
The PUNCH reports that the governor congratulated the Great
30 (students) during a visit to the Eucharistic Heart of Jesus Model College,
Ilorin. The students got between 300 and 355 marks in the examination.
Former President of ASUU, Professor Biodun Ogunyemi, in an
interview with Arise TV, lamented that students attend schools with inadequate
learning facilities. He also blamed the political leaders for failing to
prioritise education, especially for the poor.
He said the majority of those who performed poorly in the
UTME came from severely disadvantaged backgrounds and were left in the care of
untrained teachers.
Unqualified teachers in basic schools
Teachers in Basic Education in Nigeria, from statistics
obtained from UBEC, culled from @StatiSense, showed there were 1.69 million
total teachers in Nigeria, with those qualified being 1.19 million. The
unqualified teachers were put at 493,000.
The report further stated that 29 per cent of Basic
Education Teachers in Nigeria are not qualified to teach.
Breaking it down, public schools have a total of 789,000
teachers, with 652,000 qualified and 137,000 not qualified. In public schools,
unqualified teachers are 17 per cent.
For private schools, there are 897,000 teachers altogether.
Of this figure, 541,000 are qualified, while 40 per cent of the figure,
totalling 356,000 not qualified to teach.
The basic education covers Early Childhood Care Development
and Education, primary school and junior secondary school.
According to the 2022 UBEC report, the top five states most
affected by having unqualified teachers for the ECCDE are Bayelsa at 56 per
cent, Ondo, 49 per cent, Taraba, 48 per cent, Lagos, 47 per cent and Rivers, at
45 per cent.
For primary schools, there are 40.4 per cent of unqualified
teachers in Kebbi, 40.4 per cent in Lagos, 38.3 per cent in Bayelsa, 37.8 per
cent in Borno and 37.3 per cent in Rivers.
For JSS classes, Edo leads with 37.2 per cent of unqualified
teachers, followed by Bayelsa, also with 37.2 per cent. Rivers has 34.8 per
cent, Akwa Ibom has 34.5 per cent, and Kaduna has 32.5 per cent.
In Bauchi State public schools, there are 15.21 per cent
unqualified teachers in ECCDE, 14.22 per cent in primary schools and 10.03 per
cent in JSS classes, while for private schools, there are 31.25 per cent in
ECCDE, 33.32 per cent in primary schools and 31.68 per cent in JSS classes.
Anambra State in the South-East has in its public schools,
23.97 per cent unqualified teachers in ECCDE, 15.96 per cent in primary
schools; 20.61 per cent in JSS classes, while there are 50.32 per cent
unqualified in ECCDE private schools, 35.95 per cent in primary schools and
28.61 per cent in JSS classes.
In Kaduna State public schools, there are 12.96 per cent
unqualified teachers in ECCDE, 14.04 per cent in primary schools and 27.53 per
cent in JSS classes, while for private schools, there are 38.54 per cent
unqualified teachers in ECCDE, 40.85 per cent in primary schools and 36.48 per
cent in JSS classes.
In Akwa Ibom public schools, there are 6.73 per cent
unqualified teachers in ECCDE, 6.21 per cent in primary schools and 31.60 per
cent in JSS classes, while in private schools in the state, there are 40.8 per
cent unqualified teachers in the ECCDE, 36.90 per cent in primary schools and
37.43 per cent in JSS classes.
According to the data, 12 states topped the list of
unqualified teachers in their primary schools. Kebbi leads with 40.44 per cent,
followed by Lagos, also with 40.44 per cent. Bayelsa came third with 38.3 per
cent, followed by Borno, 37.8 per cent, Rivers, 37.3 per cent, Sokoto, 35.2 per
cent, Ondo, 34.0 per cent, Yobe, 32.7 per cent, Taraba, 31.2 per cent, Ogun,
31.0 per cent, Zamfara, 30.8 per cent and Gombe, 30.7 per cent.
For JSS classes, Edo leads the top 12 states with 37.2 per
cent of unqualified teachers, a position shared with Bayelsa, with 37.2 per
cent as well. Rivers has 34.8 per cent, Akwa Ibom has 34.5 per cent, Kaduna has
32.5 per cent, Ogun, 31.4 per cent, Lagos, 31.3 per cent, Niger, 28.6 per cent,
Taraba, 28.3 per cent, Osun, 26.5 per cent, Delta, 26.3 per cent and Cross
River, 26.3 per cent.
The top five states with the highest unqualified teachers in
ECCDE are Bayelsa, with 56 per cent, Ondo, 49 per cent, Taraba, 48 per cent,
Lagos, 47 per cent and Rivers, 45 per cent.
For primary schools, the top five are Kebbi, 40.4 per cent,
Lagos, 40.4 per cent, Bayelsa, 38.3 per cent, Borno, 37.8 per cent and Rivers,
37.3 per cent, while the top five in JSS classes are Edo, 37.2 per cent,
Bayelsa, 37.2 per cent, Rivers, 34.8 per cent, Akwa Ibom, 34.5 per cent and
Kaduna, 32.5 per cent.
Zonal distribution of the statistics shows that in the
South-West, there are 42.58 per cent unqualified teachers in ECCDE, 39.89 per
cent in the South-East, 35.80 per cent in the North-Central, 35.46 per cent in
the South-South, 35.19 per cent in the North-East and 30.79 per cent in the
North-West.
Distribution by region shows that Northern Nigeria has 33.72
per cent unqualified teachers, while Southern Nigeria has 40.04 per cent
unqualified teachers. Overall, for ECCDE, according to the 2022 statistics,
Nigeria has a total of 37.51 per cent unqualified teachers.
The question is: ‘What are the measures put in place to
address this issue of unqualified teachers in our educational system in
Nigeria?’ The basic education system rests more on LGAs. The data shows that
more than one in every four teachers in Nigeria’s basic education system is not
qualified to teach.
In public schools, it is almost one in every five teachers,
while in private schools; it is two in every five teachers. From the data,
there are more unqualified teachers in every level of basic education in
private schools than in their public school counterparts.
What educators say
Speaking on the development, the pioneer Vice Chancellor of
First Technical University, Ibadan, Oyo State, Professor Ayobami Salami, “When
the foundation is destroyed, there is nothing that can be done.”
Speaking with The PUNCH, he said the rot had been there over
the years but it was just manifesting, adding that the rots in many other
stages of the education sector would manifest with time.
He lamented the poor investment in education by successive
governments, neglect of the sector, non-recruitment of teachers and provision
of facilities for a conducive learning environment.
“I will point out my alma mater here as an example. It is
the old boys responsible for employing teachers and for the provision of
infrastructure in the school.
“Now since the government is not paying teachers handsomely
well; some qualified ones have pitched tents with private schools, instead of
helping to resuscitate the public institution,” he said.
He said for primary schools in the country, there was
nothing to write home about anymore.
A former Vice Chancellor of Obafemi Awolowo University,
Ile-Ife, Prof Eyitope Ogunmodede, passed a vote of confidence in JAMB but
blamed the students and their parents for the failure rate.
“JAMB has been conducting entrance examinations into higher
institutions since 1978, 46 years ago now and has been consistent with its
excellent performance and will not trade its standards. So, I passed a vote of
confidence in the ability of JAMB to sustain the standard over the years,” he
said.
He said his experience as a school administrator had made
him understand that some students deliberately wanted to fail the examinations
because they did not want to attend public higher institutions.
He stated further, “Two issues – Some students really wanted
to fail the examinations – because they are from rich homes and they want their
parents to sponsor their education outside the shores of the country or in some
private universities.
“They do not want to pass through the rigours of public
institutions. There are instances where some of these students said they don’t
know they would even pass the exams as they intentionally wanted to fail.”
Speaking on the standard of education in Nigeria, he
believed the standard is higher now, with better curriculum and improved means
of research but highlighted inadequate teaching force, poor infrastructure and
bad treatment of teachers as factors militating against the success of Nigerian
students.
“In a situation where teachers are poorly remunerated,
leading many of them to engage in extra-curricular activities during school
period, which will have effects on the performance of their students in the
long run.
“There are instances of schools in the country where
teachers are well paid and students produce very good results,” he stated.
The Rector of Federal Polytechnic, Ado-Ekiti, Dr Temitope
Alake, who said he knew the workings in primary and secondary schools, colleges
of education and the polytechnic, blamed the students for helping their wards
to write even primary school common entrance examinations.
According to him, “With that, the ability of such students
will not be reflected. Some may even manage to get high grades in WAEC and
JAMB, but by the time they spend their first and second semester in higher
institutions, they have already withdrawn. Some of them passed through miracle
centres for their external examinations. Some students come to schools with
fake certificates. What I mean is that some of the students come to school with
certificates bearing their names and identities, but not their contents.”
He lamented that the level of participation of students in
academic matters was becoming low, with so many distractions around them.
“The level of participation of students in academic matters
is abysmally low. Unrestricted access to social media is a social hazard in the
country. The reading culture is no longer there. To worsen the situation, AI is
now developed and it is helping to write the thesis and all that at higher
education levels.
“Ask a master’s degree holder to write a letter of
application without using AI, then you will see the problem. They would not be
able to write appropriately. Technology is good, but when it is not regulated,
there is bound to be poor performance in almost all the stages of education,”
he said.
He also decried the near-zero value system in the country
and, therefore, called for value reorientation.
“Our value system is also at point zero. The boys are after
emergency wealth (yahoo). These are distractions. Nowadays, most of the best
awards are won by female students.
“Nigeria got it wrong the very moment it removed Civics
Education from the school curriculum and changed it to Social Studies. Students
now see politicians, musicians and all that as models, no longer the patriots.
Nigeria needs value reorientation,” he added.
He chided parents for their inability to groom their wards,
especially as they had longer periods to spend with them.
“Parents spend more time with their wards, more than the
hours they spend in schools, but most parents do not have time for the students
anymore. Parents should be more involved in monitoring their wards’ educational
growth,” he said.
While lauding JAMB for consistency in its standard over the
years, the don called for the return of reading culture among students to
return to the glory days.
“Library and bookshops are collapsing. People prefer the
internet to seek information online these days. We should revive reading
culture among these students,” he added.
Also speaking, the Vice Chancellor, Hallmark University,
Ijebu-Itele, Ogun State, Professor Segun Odunola, listed the lack of
government’s commitment to adequate educational funding, lack of enough
competent manpower in the sector, lack of reading culture among students and
lack of parental economic power to finance all-round educational supports for
their wards as some of the problems bedevilling the educational sector in the
country.
He further listed the influence of social media, and
inadequate commitment to teaching by teachers due to poor remuneration as other
factors contributing to the failure rate at UTME, WAEC and NECO.
According to him, the failure rate had been consistent in
the last couple of years.
“The government needs to carry out an in-depth investigation
to know the reasons for the failure rate. We must look into the subjects the
students fail most, examine the topics they have difficulties with and experts
will proffer solutions to solve the problems.
“Most of us went to public schools but cannot send our
children to public schools anymore because of lack of adequate infrastructures
and lack of enough competent manpower in the sector.
“We must work to improve the reading culture among the
students. The reading culture is low, no doubt about that. Most school
libraries are empty and are not stocked with current books.
“In our own time, when you don’t have lectures you go to the
library, nowadays, even in universities, the only period when the library is
full is when the examinations are close.
“There must be adequate funding for education to provide
necessary infrastructures in the classrooms and a conducive environment for
students to learn.
He also decried the disparity in the cut-off marks for
universities, polytechnics and colleges of education, stating that the
below-average requirements for colleges of education would mean repeating the
failure since most of the products of these colleges would still come around to
train another set of students.
He called for an update of teachers’ knowledge by exposing
them to modern teaching methodologies and on-the-job retraining.
Failure didn’t start this year, there must be reform in
education sector – Alao-Akala
The lawmaker representing Ogbomoso North/Ogbomoso
South/Oriire Federal Constituency, Olamijuwon Alao-Akala, said the performance
of students in this year’s UTME was not encouraging.
The lawmaker, who said he felt sad about the development,
added that everyone – government, school, parents and society – needed to show
concern.
He, therefore, called for a total overhaul of the education
system in the country.
In a statement he signed, the lawmaker revealed that 2016
was the last time more than 30 per cent of students scored above average in the
JAMB examination.
In the statement, titled ‘JAMB 2024 Performance Worries Me’,
the former council chairman said, “This wave of poor performance by Nigerian
students in UTME did not start today. Since 2018, at least 74 per cent of
applicants have scored below the average mark of 200 in the exercise, an
indication that while the latest figure is concerning, it’s only the latest
mark in a disturbing pattern of poor performance that started seven years ago.
“The last time more than 30 per cent of students scored
above average in the exercise was in 2016 when 35 per cent of applicants scored
above 200.
“What this indicates is that while it’s easy to blame
participants in this year’s exercise for their performance and point fingers at
various issues like the rise in access to mobile devices among their
demography, the problem is deeper than that and, as such, must be addressed
from a more comprehensive lens.”
He said the results showed that the country’s education
sector has also failed and is now important to overhaul the sector.
“Firstly, the government must as a matter of priority
significantly increase the percentage of allocation to the education sector,
especially primary and secondary levels.
“This funding must be backed by a renewed policy plan that
reflects the current status of things in the sector and is based on realistic
performance objectives in the short and long term.
“Similarly, the government should carry out a comprehensive
review to ensure that teachers in schools across the country are qualified to
teach students.
“This must be followed up with a comprehensive review of the
remuneration for teachers to keep them motivated and a revamp of facilities in
schools to ensure the environment is conducive for teachers to teach and
students to learn,” he said.
He also called on the government to extend its regulatory
powers over education to privately-owned schools, to ensure the standard of
education meets an acceptable benchmark.
He also asked parents to play their part by creating an
enabling environment for their wards at home and moderating the access they had
to the internet, prioritising educational content over peripherals.