The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has announced that only 38.32% of candidates who sat for the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) passed with credits in five subjects, including English and Mathematics — the worst result in the last five years.
Out of 1,969,313 students who took the exam, just 754,545 met the minimum requirement for university admission. This marks a sharp drop from the 72.12% recorded in 2024.
“This year’s result shows a 33.8 per cent decrease in performance. It is the poorest result we have seen in recent times,” said WAEC’s Head of Nigeria Office, Mr. Amos Dangut, during a press briefing in Lagos.
Mr. Dangut also said that 192,089 results were withheld due to cases of examination malpractice. However, he added that this figure is slightly better than last year’s 11.92%, now down to 9.75%.
He attributed some of the failure to new strategies aimed at curbing malpractice. One such method was the serialisation of question papers in key subjects like Mathematics, English, Biology, and Economics, which made cheating more difficult.
“Each candidate was given a different version of the paper. Still, we found cases where students copied answers from others with different versions, leading to failure,” he said.
Some schools used Computer-Based Testing (CBT) for the first time during the exams. Many education experts believe this also played a role in the poor performance, especially for students from rural areas who lack computer skills.
“No educational system can rise above the quality of its teachers. Many teachers are not motivated, and some students spend more time on social media than studying,” said Professor Monday Ubamgha, former Dean of Education at the University of Lagos.
Educationist Dr. Nelson Ayodele said many schools were unprepared for the new exam methods.
“They were used to finding ways around the system. But this time, WAEC’s strict measures caught them off guard. The real issue is poor teaching quality, lack of discipline in classrooms, and weak parental control,” he said.
Dr. Ayodele also believes students are distracted by gadgets.
Ayodele said, “Instead of investing in PlayStations, parents should buy useful tech tools like laptops to help their children prepare.”
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Teen counsellor and mother, Nike Ogunjobi, blamed the poor results on a dying reading culture and uncommitted teachers.
“Some teachers are only in the profession for survival, not because they want to add value,” she said.
Students also shared their experiences.
Kehinde Michael from Ogun State said, “Our objective questions were different from each other. The English paper was tough because of the limited time and confusing options.”
Another student, Abdullahi Umaru, said many students failed Mathematics due to fear of numbers.
“Math problems start from primary school. Even hardworking students struggle,” Umaru said.
Parent, Mrs. Adeyemi Grace, called on WAEC to rethink the CBT method. She also urged schools to train teachers better so they can guide students more effectively.
Mr. Dangut assured that efforts are ongoing to release the remaining results still being processed. He also confirmed that students with special needs were provided with necessary support during the exams.
Experts now say the poor results are a wake-up call.
“We need to go back to the drawing board. Let’s start preparing our students properly from the new school year in September,” Dr. Ayodele said.