The plague of examination malpractice

Current media reports show that there has been an upsurge in examination malpractice while even parents and teachers who are supposed to assist in reducing it are neck deep in it.   Examination malpractice is a national shame that requires the involvement of all stakeholders to eradicate. Only qualitative education that brings out the best in […]

Current media reports show that there has been an upsurge in examination malpractice while even parents and teachers who are supposed to assist in reducing it are neck deep in it.   Examination malpractice is a national shame that requires the involvement of all stakeholders to eradicate. Only qualitative education that brings out the best in pupils and students is good enough for Nigeria.

Examination is the pivotal point around which Nigeria’s education system revolves and the success or failure of the system of examination is indeed an indicator of the quality of graduate the various higher institutions turn out every year. The basic assumption of any examination is that it should be valid and it should be reliable. These two distinct concepts can be measured. An examination is said to be valid when it performs the functions which it is designed to perform. The reliability refers to consistency of measurement. In actual fact, the prevailing system of examination and its mode of conduct defy both these assumptions. The system has degenerated to an extent that its validity and reliability are questionable. Examination is no longer regarded as a test for measuring the performance of students. The reason being that there is a complete breakdown of the whole system of examination over the country and at all level of education.

Examination malpractice takes the following forms: leakage of question papers, copying, changing answer books, impersonation, misconduct in examination centre, approaching invigilators/examiners, making false entries in award list/ examination registers and issuing fake certificate/degrees.

Examination malpractice is caused by lack of qualified teachers, who due to high rate of unemployment go into the teaching profession without having basic rudiments of the profession. Also, inadequate modern laboratory equipment in most secondary schools and higher institutions encourage examination malpractice because facilities are not there to practicalise most of the things thought in theoretical terms.

Besides, preference for paper qualification is the order of the day in Nigeria because nobody wants to know what you have upstairs but what is in your certificate. In addition to this, corruption on the part of those who are in charge of conduction the examinations, the teacher/lecturer, invigilators, and examination officials has worsened the situation. This could however be attributed to low remuneration level for invigilators and examination officials. They are provided with very low facility which does not motive them to work effectively.

In providing solution to the menace of examination malpractice, firstly, the federal government decree on examination malpractice should be implemented to deal with any examination fraud which may involve individual(s), groups of people and schools.

 Secondly, educating the parents on the need to monitor the movements of their sons, daughters and wards and check their performance at schools.

Thirdly, students also should learn to be useful not only to themselves and their parents but also the society at large. Besides, the re-introduction of reading and library classes as compulsory components in primary and secondary schools will help to stimulate and inculcate the reading culture in students. Guidance Counselors should be employed in all schools to guide the students on study habits, career prospects and requirement for various careers.

Furthermore, Continuous assessment should be practiced correctly. It will reduce examination malpractices as 40% of marks are accumulated from various assessment techniques such as projects and assignments before actual examinations. However, the number of invigilators and supervisors should be increased in the exam halls. Exam officers, vice principals and principals should occasionally pay visits to exam halls to observe what is going on. In this way, cheating in examinations could be reduced to the minimum.

Meanwhile, the Federal Ministry of Education and relevant stakeholders need to aggressively tackle the decline in education by adequately funding the institutions, carrying regular inspection, proper and continuous training of teachers and lecturers.

Examination malpractice is a national shame that requires the involvement of all stakeholders to eradicate.  Only qualitative education that brings out the best in pupils and students is good enough for Nigeria.

Finally, the over-reliance and dependence on paper qualification should be de-emphasized while vocational and entrepreneurial training should be encouraged.  Examination malpractice is a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the very foundation of our educational system and in order to curb this menace, all hands must be on deck among various stakeholders in the educational circle.

Sunday, Ogidigbo and Rosemary wrote from Mass Communications Department, Federal Polytechnic, Bida.