A failed academic system and technical glitches during the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board, JAMB, Examination for 2025 cost a young woman her life in Nigeria.

Potential university students in Nigeria had sat for the JAMB in March, with many complaining of the technical issues experienced during the exam. Over 90% of the nearly 2 million students aspiring to get into higher institutions are teenagers, and the outcome of the JAMB results 2 months later crushed many of them.

There were system crashes, power cuts and logging failures during the exams in different centres across the country. Several students were unable to finish their test, and only one in 5 scaled through the 200-pass limit. Mass low scores are not uncommon, however, for this year, 80% of low grades is above the usual 50%. There was a national outburst.

Students complained about being psychologically traumatised. However, the Ministry of Education claimed that the mass failure was because the ability to cheat was limited.

The JAMB office had a different response and has offered a resit. This is one of the options that exist to solve the low score this year.

Hundreds of thousands have now begun retaking the same exam with better systems.

The other involves the universities making exceptions and lowering their entrance scores to accommodate the lower points.

Similar to the low grades of the 2022/2023 admission session, JAMB worked with higher institutions to set a lower general cut-off mark for universities starting at 140, after candidates underperformed.

Students may be able to use their low JAMB score to secure admission in some schools.