Examination
malpractice is now a recent phenomenon, nor is it peculiar to one examination
body alone, so it cuts across ton the whole educational system from primary to
territory levels. If we consider all cases of Examination malpractice, which
occurred over the years with our school system and in Examination conducted by
such bodies as joint Admission and Matriculation Board, National Teachers
Institute and other professional bodies, it could be concluded that Examination
malpractice are common daily occurrence.
Isemede (1987) indicates that
Examination malpractices institute one of the biggest problems facing the Joint
Admission and Matriculation Board. Ojikuku (1987) expressed her
disappointment at the way University students contravene examination
regulations. She claimed that, the more regulations were foughened, the more
sophisticated the students became at devising means to beat them. Omotoso
(1980) in her own contribution declares that examination malpractice do not
constitutes a new phenomenon in Nigeria as the senior Cambridge Local
Examination leaked in 1914, that is thirty four (34) years before West African
Examination Council was established. She lamented the disheatering wave of
malpractice sweeping across the entire educational system.
Eminent
scholars, Muslim (1991) has said, examination malpractice are a product of a
society that nurtures cheats. But it is not in the school system only that
cheating has become a favourite pasture. The prevalence of, credit card fraud,
bank fraud, manipulation and contract fraud is a manifestation of a deeper
disease with which many Nigerian shave been affected.
According
to God’s view and standard, which supercedes man’s opinion and suggestion, the
Holy Bible new international version (1984) says in (11: 1, 20: 10) the Lord
hates cheating but delight in honesty. A false balance is an abomination to the
Lord, but a just weight is his delight. From the Bible verse, we can understand
that examination malpractice is a form of cheating which brings a false success
and it is an abomination to God because it is a sin and God hates it. Therefore
only righteousness and honesty which brings true success is his delights. Examination
malpractice is any action done or committed which makes it impossible to use an
examination in determining the level of competence of a candidate in absorbing,
reproducing and where appropriate, Applying knowledge, professor A. E Afigbo. Examination malpractice is any act of
wring doing or neglect that contravenes the rules of acceptable practice
before, during and after an examination by anybody in any way, DR. U. D Ahmed.
Shim
said Examination malpractice is like a
plague, only success attained honest and conscientious effort guarantees
internal satisfaction, everlasting joy and future progress which success
attained dishonesty and crooked means eventually lead to disgrace and failure,
it .col. D.A. Akintode not to have any certificate at all than to brandiah one
obtained fraudulently through examination malpractice.
The
Federal government had in the past instituted Judicial commission, of enquiring
or tribunal to look into the cases and prevaction of examination leakage with a
view to making recommendation to the government, Alexander Tribunal of (1967)
Sogbetum tribunal of (1999) are easily best remembered. The recommendation of
the tribunals had geared the government in passing acts of legislation, for
example Degree number 27 of (1973) and miscellaneous offences decree of (1984)
which spells out punishment for committing examination malpractice.
Similarly,
the west Africa Examination Council imposed punishment on erring candidates to
serve as deterrent to others such as, handing-over offends to law enforcement
agents for prosecution especially in leakage and impersonation cases or where
acts of hooliganism has been committed by candidates, cancellation of
candidate’s result or barring such candidate from taking WAEC for a period of
time, de-recognizing schools were mass cheating occurs as WAEC centers and
reporting erring examination, supervisors or invigilators to their employers
for disciplinary actions and blacklisting them in future exercise etc.
Social
vices on primary and secondary schools in Ebonyi state by Rev.Father John Odey
was of the view that state of moral decaderence perpetuated by a number of
social vices in our present day society is considered to have reached a high
proportional stage. These social have spilled over to our institutions of
learning with their diversting effects on us as a people. The vices which in
the opinion of the paper have both remote and immediate causes which if not
drastically deck mated will not only bulconize the society as it has started
doing but will cause a greater harm in it future.
The
entire social set up, the teachers employed in government schools had linked
the ugly situation to government schools take-over of schools from churches
problems among others, were identified as part of the vices. As a way of the
bog, teachers should be promptly paid. Employment of teachers should be based
on merit, employ teachers via examination put an end to examination
malpractice, put an end to secret Cultism.
Some
course lecturers across the country’s institution have been found one way or
another to collaborate with students to perpetrate examination fraud ranging
from leakage of question papers to answering and inflating marks for students
for either cash or sex rewarding. For example, principal in one, of the secondary
schools in Nigeria was alleged to have answered in his own handwriting part of
some questions for a female student. A disciplinary committee, which was set up
to investigate the matter unanimously found him guilly.
In
another school, in 1988, three teachers were punished seriously because of
malpractices with regard to the conciliation of examination results and yet in
another, a committee set up to investigate examination fraud discovered that
the students paid between two hundred to five hundred naira to obtain
examination peppers from teachers, Newswatch (July 1991).
From
the review of the past, examination malpractice active can be seen as ‘idode’,
I mean a prejudice of some kind which is a hindrance to an objective, put in
another way, whatever prevents learners from pursuing educational objectives in
life distorts their sense of value. Since every hour ushers in new experiences,
time should be carefully watched to ensure that whatever the hour brings should
be handled according to the demand of the hours.