The Lagos State government has disclosed that 26,592 public school students failed the 2024 West African Senior School Certificate Examination, raising alarm across the state’s education sector.
The state Commissioner for Basic Primary and Secondary School Education, Jamiu Tolani Alli-Balogun made this disclosure on Thursday while giving an account of activities of the Ministry in the last one year, at the 2025 Ministerial Press Briefing held at Bagauda Kaltho Press Centre, Alausa, Ikeja, Lagos.
He said, “45.7 per cent of the 58,188 students from public schools who sat for the exams did not pass.”.
This failure rate comes despite the state government’s significant financial backing of N1.577bn paid on behalf of the students to cover WAEC fees.
In a bid to tighten accountability and avoid wastage, the commissioner disclosed that biometric and image registration was carried out to accurately determine eligible students for government sponsorship for the 2025 WASSCE.
“The exercise successfully captured and registered 56,134 students as bona fide beneficiaries of the Lagos state government’s sponsorship for the examination.”
The government, however, rolled out a bold educational intervention – the Eko Learners’ Support Programme for WASSCE and NECO candidates – aimed at reversing the tide of academic failure in the state’s public schools.
Launched on January 14, 2025, the initiative is part of a broader commitment by the Ministry of Basic and Secondary Education to equip Lagos students with tools for success.
According to the Commissioner, “This forward-thinking initiative was designed to support and empower young scholars in attestation of the ministry’s commitment to advancing interest and management of the educational system in Lagos State,” Alli-Balogun stated.
He said with a vision to broadcast 320 lessons across 10 key subjects, including English, Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Economics, Government, History, Literature-in-English, and Yoruba, the programme aims to bring world-class tutoring directly into students’ homes.
The commissioner said each 30-minute episode would air on Lagos Television and be archived across major platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and X (formerly Twitter), creating a digital learning library accessible to every student.
“It is a supportive eco-system that fosters academic achievement, creativity, critical thinking… every student deserves the opportunity to attain their full potential, regardless of their background or socio-economic status,” the commissioner stated.
Tolani Alli-Balogun also said that 17 new schools were created between 2024 and 2025, adding that the state also stated that it paid a total of N1,577,794billion as 2024 WAEC fees for 58,188 bonafide students within the same period.
Out of the new schools, the Commissioner said two were primary, 10 junior secondary schools while five were senior secondary schools.
The commissioner also said a total number of 17,575 students were successfully transferred from various public and private schools into State’s Junior Secondary school II (JSII) and Senior Secondary School I (SSI).
