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Every year, millions of young Nigerians sit for the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) exam. It’s the test that decides who gets into university. It is our own version of the SATs or A-Levels.

In 2025, over 2 million students wrote this exam.

More than 1.5 million scored below 200 out of 400.

That’s 7 out of every 10 students.

This isn’t just a number. It’s a mirror showing us something we don’t want to admit: our education system is stuck.

Here’s the strange part. Many of the questions asked in 2025 are recycled from the 1990s and early 2000s.

But the students answering them were born in 2007. They live in a world of smartphones, streaming, and instant information. Yet they are tested with questions designed when dial-up internet was still a big deal.

Of course, social media is a distraction. But let’s be honest: that’s not why over a million young people are struggling.

The Bigger Issues are:

• A curriculum that still teaches yesterday’s knowledge.

• Exams that reward memorizatiion instead of problem-solving.

• A wide gap between school lessons and the real skills life demands today.

And because of that, brilliant minds are being judged by the wrong standards.

What Needs to Change

If we want better results, we have to:

• Write exams that speak to today’s world, not yesterday’s.

• Train students to think, not just to cram.

• Link classroom learning to the realities outside school.

• Give students tools that fit the times they are growing up in.

Why It Matters

This isn’t only about passing or failing a test.

It’s about the future of a whole generation.

Every time we recycle old questions, we recycle old problems. Every time we fail to update our methods, we fail the very people we claim to be preparing.

At Vibrant Learning and Careers, we believe education should open doors, not close them. Young people deserve chances that match their world, not ones trapped in the past.

So here’s the question I leave with you:

If we agree that 2025 shouldn’t look like 1999, then how do we build an education system that actually fits this generation? Because it’s not just about exams. It’s about futures.