Education & AI for Africa

FROM THE ARCHIVE

The Exam Nigeria Never Sat

Published Tuesday, 11 August 2026 · 2-minute read

The Corridor, Part 1 of 6

This month, at our summer school, we began sitting children down for a baseline exam. One hundred and twenty-five children so far, over three days in August, and we are still counting. About forty percent attend my family's schools, New State High School and New State Nursery & Primary School. The rest came from schools across Lagos, public and private, sitting side by side with ours. A wider net than one school.

Thirty-six questions. Six strands. Words, Numbers, Logic, Science, Values, Voice. These were primary school questions, Prep to Year 5. The children sitting them were in primary and secondary school, from Basic 1 to SSS3.

Most of them, the secondary students, should have cleared everything. They did not. And the why is not what you think.

First, who sets the bar. Every question came from a named standard, the ones the world already agrees on.

For reading, England. Their phonics screening check is how England confirms that every five-year-old can turn letters into sounds. Alongside it, PIRLS, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study. Think of PIRLS as the World Cup of reading. Every five years, close to sixty countries sit their ten-year-olds down with the same passages, to find out whose children read best. Nigeria has never sat for this exam.

For maths, Singapore. The small country that tops the world tables year after year, whose textbooks other nations now copy. Alongside it, TIMSS, the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study. TIMSS is the World Cup of maths and science. Hundreds of thousands of children, over sixty countries, the same questions, so every nation can see exactly where it stands. Nigeria has never sat for this exam. But we have been to the actual World Cup.

For science, Cambridge Primary. Not for the name but because Cambridge tests something almost nobody else tests at primary level: whether a child can think like a scientist. Predict, test, observe, decide.

For speaking, the US Common Core. Say what you think, and why, out loud.

And for aptitude and values, Nigeria. Our own NCEE papers.

Why mix Nigeria with the world? Because we should not raise our children for Lagos or even Nigeria alone. We should raise global citizens. So we measured them against the globe.

In Part 2, we tell you what our children got right and it is more than you fear. Then, what fell, and where. It is not where you think.

Your child can take the baseline today. It is free, it takes about fifteen minutes, and it looks like a game. You will see exactly where your child stands, against Nigeria's standards and the world's.

And yes, you can sit it yourself. Adults are allowed. You may be surprised where you stop.

The Baseline