2025 UTME result: Over 50% fall within 160-199 score margin

BusinessdayMay 8, 2025Read original

… as experts label the outcome as mediocre

…blame the political system for rot in the education system

The 2025 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) abysmal result statistics published by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) on Monday, May 5, have been attributed to a failed learning system that demands urgent action.

The 2025 UTME statistics show that the majority of the candidates, 983,187 out of the over 1.5 million (50.29 percent) were in a score band of 160-199, while 488,197 are within the score band of 140-159 (24.97 percent).

Not less than 334,560 candidates fall within the score band of 200-249 (17.11 percent); amplifying the fact that a considerable concentration of candidates scored below the 200-mark.

A total of 73,441 (3.76 percent) fall within the 250-299 score band, while 7,658 (0.39 percent) had between 300-319, and 4,756 (0.24 percent) ranked within the 320-400 score band.

Chris Nmeribe, a certified educationist, described the outcome as exposing the height of mediocrity in the education system because, according to him, outcomes are functional to inputs.

“Outcomes depend on inputs, so the broader implications must be traced to decades-long malaise that has bedevilled an educational system that has neither goal nor direction, just an antiquated text-based system that is far removed from on-the-ground reality.

“Further, it simply throws up the distasteful reality that secondary education in Nigeria is just all ‘form’ and no substance, deeply neglected and lacking creative policy,” he said.

A good number of secondary school students in Nigeria are more interested in easy money-making activities than in studying, more so with the rise of social media.

Besides, the indifference of the political leaders and policymakers towards the development of the education sector, how can a student, for instance, be expected to perform adequately in the computer-based test when he/she has hardly used the device?

Moreover, Nmeribe said the way forward is for the government to pay adequate attention to teachers’ welfare, because the resultant indifference of teachers who are mostly treated as inferiors compared to other professionals is showing in the students’ performance.

“The lack of political will, coupled with the unwillingness of the policymakers to invest adequately in the education sector, is worrisome. You cannot give your best without commensurate rewards,” he noted.

Similarly, the Senior Staff Union in Colleges of Education, Nigeria (SSUCOEN) has called on governments to invest in education, particularly in the training of teachers.

The union maintained that no country can achieve meaningful progress without investing in education, particularly in the training of teachers.

However, Friday Erhabor, a parent, said from his experience in JAMB, any person who scores above 170 in UTME is an above-average student.

“If you doubt me, take such a student to schools in the UK and the U.S, he/she will shine like a million stars. What we need is to upgrade learning facilities in our tertiary institutions and make them globally competitive, and you will realise that the scores we think are poor are not as poor as we are making them.

“CBT test, which is a monosyllabic answer, is not a true test of real knowledge,” he said.

Meanwhile, Wálé Akínfadérìn, commenting about the result on his official X handle @WaleAkinfaderin, emphasised the need for improving data transparency, which he said will facilitate deeper insights, such as equity analysis and regional trends.

Besides, he said, doing that will lead to meaningful policy and reporting, noting that with geographic identifiers, one could identify underperforming districts and states, helping direct remedial resources where they are most needed.

“Without additional demographic and geographic context, our ability to explain why such disparities exist remains limited. We urge greater transparency and data sharing by education authorities to empower research-driven solutions for national development,” Akínfadérìn stated.

Charles Ogwo Charles Ogwo, Head, Education Desk at BusinessDay Media is a seasoned proactive journalist with over a decade of reportage experience.