Concerns Over the Scrapping of the National Common Entrance Examination in Nigeria
Education stakeholders across Nigeria have raised serious concerns over the Federal Government’s reported plan to scrap the National Common Entrance Examination, warning that the move could weaken already fragile standards in the country’s basic education system. The Common Entrance, conducted annually by the National Examinations Council, serves as the primary gateway into Federal Government Colleges, popularly known as unity schools, established to promote merit, discipline, and national cohesion.
Stakeholders argued that beyond selection, the examination has historically provided a uniform benchmark for assessing pupils from diverse educational and socio-economic backgrounds across the 36 states of the federation and the Federal Capital Territory. Available data from recent admission cycles show that thousands of candidates compete each year for limited slots, with performance helping to identify academic gaps across regions and school types.
Recall that the Federal Government, last month, announced plans to scrap the Junior Secondary School Common Entrance Examination and introduce a Learner Identification Number to track pupils from primary school through their academic journey, a decision stakeholders said was more of a political statement than a well-thought-out action plan for the education sector.
The Minister of Education, Tunji Alausa, disclosed this during an interactive session with journalists in Lagos, explaining that the proposed reforms aim to improve access to education and ensure better tracking of pupils across the country. He said the Common Entrance Examination would be phased out and replaced with a more comprehensive evaluation system.
“It will be replaced by Continuous Assessment. The CA will reflect the performance of the pupil from primary one, and even if a pupil is transferring from one school to another, he will take it along to his new school,” Alausa said. The minister added that the new system would help address gaps in the transition from primary to secondary education, particularly the large number of pupils who fail to progress to the next level.
“We have over 50,000 public primary schools in the country with over 23 million pupils. From available statistics, only a little over three million among those pupils move to the junior secondary school level in our public schools. The question is, where are the about 20 million not enrolled in our public secondary schools?” he queried. He said it was obvious that the system could not claim that private schools accommodate all of them.
“The issue is simply a lack of access, and we are working on that. There is a need to build more schools, and I have met with the Nigerian Governors’ Forum on that. State governments need to build more schools to accommodate more pupils and students,” he said.
To address tracking challenges in the school system, the minister added that the government would introduce the Learner Identification Number for pupils from the primary school level, a unique number for each child, regardless of where they begin or later transfer their schooling.
Risks of Removing Standardized Assessments
Reacting to the proposal, critics warned that removing the standardised assessment without a credible alternative risks deepening inequality, encouraging arbitrary admissions, and eroding accountability in public education. They added that while government officials have suggested reforms aimed at reducing exam pressure on young learners, any overhaul must be evidence-based, inclusive, and carefully phased to avoid unintended consequences for access, quality, and fairness in Nigeria’s education system.
A retired Director in the Federal Ministry of Education and former Principal of King’s College, Lagos, Otunba Oladele Olapeju, spoke extensively on the issue, faulting the Federal Government’s plan to scrap the Junior Secondary School Common Entrance Examination. He warned that the move may undermine merit, encourage manipulation, and fail to address deeper challenges in the education sector.
Olapeju expressed doubts about positive outcomes from the planned action, saying it appears more like a political statement than a well-thought-out plan for the education sector. “As I said during a television discussion on the matter, it is not feasible. I doubt its feasibility because it appears more like a political statement than a well-thought-out action plan for the education sector.”
Challenges with Continuous Assessment
He added that unity colleges were established as centres of excellence to set standards for secondary education, adding that central governments rarely manage secondary education directly across the world, as they focus more on tertiary institutions. “In Nigeria, unity schools serve as models. However, many are underfunded and understaffed. Teacher shortages are a major issue, especially in the South. At King’s College, we had to recruit over 70 teachers through PTA support to bridge the gap.”
“This is where government attention should be focused: improving infrastructure, staffing, and quality of education, not scrapping an examination that helps maintain standards,” he said. On the issue of reducing exam pressure on pupils, he said, “If the government is serious about reducing pressure, it should address the burden on senior secondary students.”
An education analyst, Austin Samuel, said if the government’s concern is that students do not progress to the next level after the Common Entrance Examination, it should address that problem directly rather than introduce a new policy without the structure to support it. He said, “Here is another way of kicking the stone; it can only hurt more. If the government has a report or information showing that children do not transition into secondary school after the Common Entrance, then it should tackle the problem directly, not change the mode of assessment and introduce another system that we do not have the structure to manage.”
Addressing the Root Causes of Educational Inequality
Also, a retired director of the Federal Ministry of Education, Ngozi Okoro, said scrapping the Common Entrance to replace it with continuous assessment is not a good decision, stressing that political considerations should not override technical expertise. “Let’s separate politics from education. Common Entrance is not the reason children are out of school. Does it buy school uniforms? Does it pay for Junior and Senior WAEC examinations? Poverty causes many children to be out of school.”
She argued that the move could further weaken the country’s fragile education system. “This is a political scheme that could further weaken the country’s fragile education system. The minister should know better. We are currently battling the concept of ‘educationally less-privileged regions’ being used to disadvantage many students, and now we are introducing a policy that could make education the preserve of the highest bidder.”
Statistically, a 2024 United Nations Children’s Fund report revealed that Nigeria has one of the highest numbers of out-of-school children globally. The report stated that no fewer than 10.2 million children are out of school at the primary level, while 8.1 million others are not enrolled at the junior secondary school level. The data showed that 66 per cent of this figure is from the North-West and North-East geopolitical zones.
Corroborating Okoro’s position, the Research on Improving Systems of Education in Nigeria listed extreme poverty, pervasive insecurity, such as banditry, kidnapping, and terrorism, and socio-cultural norms, particularly in the North, among the major drivers of out-of-school children. “Other factors include high schooling costs, inadequate school infrastructure, child labour, early marriage for girls, and the need for children to support household income.”
