JAMB 2021: Failure and preparation are never a different entity

The 2021 Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB) examination record of its all-time highest failures does not come as a surprise to many people who foresaw the impact of COVID-19 pandemic more than what is obvious.

I remember discussing with my colleagues after the lockdown period when the schools were open again for studies, most states government gave schools few weeks to round up and write exams to continue the sessions for speedy academic calendar normalization from the disruption of the unplanned COVID-19 school closure.

But what we seem to have forgotten at that time is the reality that lost time is never found, teachers rushed through the curriculum as directed to finish the sessions.

There was concerns even at that time that there will be massive failures in the Senior Secondary Examinations WAEC and NECO but to our surprise, the results came out better.

The lockdown has necessitated a whole academic year sit-at-home for students doing nothing than social media engagement in Facebook, Tiktok and alikes mediums, coupled with watching series movies which they became addicted to even after lockdown.

The emergence of weekly YouTube downloadable movie series with new episode being released every day from Monday to Sunday has kept the students busy that they watched late at nights and spent the whole day in schools discussing the content on every slight opportunity of free times available to them.