WAEC 2025: How a broken system set students up for failure,
By Prisca Sam-Duru
In a piece titled, “SSCE 2025: Expo on platter of gold as WAEC attempts to prevent English Language paper leakage?”, written by yours truly and published on May 31, 2025 of this same column, I expressed fear about what just happened with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) this year.
Let’s take a quote from that short article. “Sincerely speaking, it’s hoped that there won’t be mass failure in English Language in the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) after the disastrous stunt the organisers pulled on Wednesday. Of all the papers, it is a compulsory subject like the English language that was messed up.
“What will be the saddest part is that when, no, let’s say if that happens, people will not remember that these students wrote the subject in the most unconducive manner ever. Our children deserve better. All these excuses by exam bodies are not solving any problems at all.”
Now, it is widely believed that WAEC has decided to punish innocent children due to their own (WAEC) inefficiency. Since August 4, 2025 when the 2025 West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results were released, it’s been pain, anguish, frustration, and confusion. School proprietors are weeping due to the dent on their academic records. Parents are in pain due to the thousands running into millions they spent to get their children to sit for the school certificate exams.
Understand that the fees ran into millions because most schools usually add up the entire fees for 1st, 2nd, and third terms for SS3 students before they sit for WAEC exams. Students who narrowly escaped JAMB’s gross ‘human error’ attack, who applied for admissions into tertiary institutions with awaiting results are completely distraught after clearing other subjects but scored F9, D7, or E8 in two compulsory subjects- Mathematics and English Language.
The most painful aspect of the whole episode is the way and manner they announced the percentage of the students that failed, implying it was due to their efforts to prevent exam malpractice. On noticing the mass failure, a responsible exam body should have reviewed or recalled the answer sheets of affected students to find out where the problem emanated from. This is especially true as the serialization or differentiated question papers were introduced. If they had done this, they would have discovered the underlying error and fixed it before releasing the results.
WAEC obviously didn’t learn anything from what happened with JAMB this 2025. What a year!
One of the affected schools in Ikorodu had only about three of their students out of about thirty that sat for the SSCE exams, scoring C5 and C6 in Mathematics and English. The rest were given D7, E8, and F9. In fact, the majority scored F9. This is unacceptable! How do you begin to explain to any sane person that nothing went wrong, especially with the marking scheme?
It is too soon to forget several troubling events that occurred during the examination period. Several students across the country, especially those in rural and under-resourced areas, were seen in viral videos, writing their examinations under extremely difficult circumstances. Many used torchlights and candles during nighttime exams. Many others wrote theirs till midnight due to poor logistics, lateness in paper distribution, and power outages.
Failing the affected students after the trauma they underwent while writing their exams has been described by some users as scandalous. How could WAEC turn itself into the ‘Big Punisher’? It should have cancelled those papers and rescheduled them. It was absolutely unfair to expect students to perform well under the unconducive atmosphere in which they wrote English language in particular. It is also absolutely unfair for exam bodies to always blame their inefficiencies on the students by always claiming that students are only keen on expo rather than studying. Many of them study.
Many left their homes for boarding/camping in their schools just to concentrate on their studies as well as to allow teachers more time to tutor them ahead of exams. The lessons and boarding facilities were all paid for by poor parents struggling to survive severe economic stress imposed on them by government policies. The psychological toll this mass failure has brought upon the students and their parents can not be waved aside. “This is internal failure, not students’ failure,” Oluwaseun declared on X.
Since the results were released, there’s been a national outrage by parents, educators, and education rights groups. A Nigerian mother who spoke in the Yoruba language is seen in a viral video on social media, calling out others to join the protest against WAEC.
She cited late night exams as responsible for the mass failure. If nothing is done quickly, the agitation might become bigger than envisaged. There’s widespread anger against WAEC.
Additionally, one of the tools the Almighty God used to get JAMB to accept their faults and organize a re-sit for students they unjustly failed during the 2025 exam, Alex Onyia, has also raised the alarm over WAEC 2025 mass Failure.
Onyia, the CEO of Educare, lamented on his X platform that only 38% passed English and Maths amid midnight exams and torchlight conditions.
He questioned the credibility of the results after WAEC revealed that only 38% of the 1.9 million candidates obtained credits in both English Language and Mathematics, a minimum requirement for university admission in Nigeria.
“How can only 38% of students out of over 1.9 million that sat for WAEC score credit in English and Mathematics? Something is fundamentally wrong.”
Ajala Adetunji David also wrote on X, “The mass failure recorded in English is a testament to how it was conducted. The students are now suffering from the bad system put in place. There is a need to re-conduct the English examination. The result is unacceptable.” And Mathematics too!
On facebook, Oyedeji Bright Oluwafemi wrote a piece he captioned, “WAEC 2025: A Broken System or a Failing Generation?” His post reads, “There must be a holistic review of WAEC’s logistics, policies, and response to crises. Many believe that the examining body must open an inquiry into what happened during the 2025 WASSCE and provide clarity on how decisions were made regarding grading. With a staggering number of failed and withheld results, this year’s outcome is more than a disappointment; it is a national red flag that demands urgent intervention.
“It is no longer enough to blame poor performance on students’ laziness or lack of preparation. While academic discipline is important, we can not ignore the systemic failures that have become recurring in our examination bodies. When students are subjected to chaotic exam conditions, delayed start times, and inadequate supervision, their chances of performing well are drastically compromised. “What we are witnessing is not just a wave of failure. It is the loud cry of a broken system.
For now, thousands of students face uncertain academic futures, not because they didn’t study, but because a broken system set them up for failure.” Oluwafemi insisted that “The Nigerian government must act swiftly.
WAEC officials must be summoned for a full public inquiry. The marking process must be audited and verified. The rights of students, especially those whose results have been unfairly withheld, must be protected.
Education is the backbone of any serious nation. If we continue to allow mismanagement, corruption, or incompetence to define how we assess our students, we are setting fire to our own future.”
Here is a warning to parents. Please monitor your children. No child must take his or her life because of mathematics and English language results, like it reportedly happened with JAMB. There will always be a better tomorrow.
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By Prisca Sam-Duru In a piece titled, “SSCE 2025: Expo on platter of gold as WAEC attempts to prevent English Language paper leakage?”, written by yours truly and published on May 31, 2025 of this same column, I expressed fear about what just happened with the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) this year. Let’s take […]
The post WAEC 2025: How a broken system set students up for failure appeared first on Vanguard News.
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