Wale Ajao
25 June 2008
column
Lagos — One of the disappointing components of the issue of examination malpractice is the involvement of parents, teachers and college principals.
By all standards those who are supposed to be opposed to examination malpractice are the ones getting involved. Any wonder why combating examination malpractice is very difficult in this country today?
Can one still be rightly surprised that the West African Examinations Council, (WAEC) and National Examinations Council (NECO) continue to face daunting challenges in combating the menace? It is in this context that the bad news from Ekiti State shall be analysed.
Vanguard reported on June 6 that "Ekiti State government on June 5 came hard on some schools and school principals allegedly involved in examination malpractices and other related offences as it demoted seven school principals to classroom teachers and permanent closure of eight private schools."
The report said that some of the affected school principals were said to have aided students to cheat in public examinations while others were said to have collected registration fees from candidates for WAEC and NECO but failed to register them.
The state Commissioner for Education and Technology, Chief Mrs Abiola Ayinmache said the government decided to sanction the teachers and college principals to sanitise public examination in the state and in the country.
That ugly incident is not happening for the first time. Things like that has happened in Lagos State and some other parts of the country. The involvement of teachers, parents, private school proprietors, and college principals in examination malpractice show the seriousness of the problem.
This shows why anybody that does not pay enough attention may underrate the nature and capacity of those involved.
The fact that those who are so highly placed in society are involved mean that law enforcement agents will continue to face serious problems as they try to dislodge the examination fraudsters. It also indicates the extent of the prevailing moral decadence in society.
The calibre of people getting involved in examination malpractice also mean that more concerted efforts need to be made to fight it.
There will also be a need to fund public examinations properly. They need more funds to recruit more staff, acquire better equipment and generally improve their services.
The fact that inadequate funding and staffing has compelled pubic examination bodies to rely on teachers, principals and proprietors underscore the problem.
It means WAEC and other bodies are relying on people who cannot be trusted. It also means public examination bodies are making use of people they have no control over. if they have enough staff they can at least be sure 6that the sensitive parts of their operation are in the hands of their own staff.
The point here is that those staff can be fired if they get involved in examination malpractice. As it is now, public examination bodies rely on the law enforcement process or the government to sanction those involved.
But because some of the perpetrators are highly placed they can manipulate the law enforcement procedure. Unless actions like that of Ekiti State government are taken some culprits may escape sanctions.
Consequently, the process of sanitising public examination will also require more commitment on the part of government and all stakeholders.
While we commend Ekiti State government for this bold action, we call on all other levels of government to rise to the challenge. The integrity of our public examinations must be sustained.
It is a vital part of our educational system. The image of our country depends on it. If we need new laws we should put them in place.
There is a need to recreate the value system. Series of enlightenment campaigns are necessary to draw the attention of everyone to the dangers of a permanently compromised and unreliable public examination system.
The lesson from Ekiti State is that Commissioners of Education who themselves can lead by example have nothing to fear. They are clearly in a position to sack those who sell their conscience for money. If those in charge of our educational system stand for the truth they will be able to resist the few bad eggs in our midst.
The report from Ekiti should also be of interest to the management and staff of our public examination bodies. They should be circumspect in the way they do their work.
They should build in mechanisms that can enable them cross-check the trust they must place in teachers, college principals and proprietors they want to involve in the conduct of our public examinations.
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wll i will like to commend the examination council for thier latest improvement on examination malpractice but still the council should still try to look at the student bcos reading a whole syllabus from ss1 to ss3 is very dificult and for the council to control examination malpractise in student is to give them the place to read before the examination bcos my brother that fininshed from the u.s told me that before any exam they give them what to read.