Concerns rise over teaching as over nine million fail UTME in seven years

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.