Nigeria: Exam Malpractice - the Situation Continues

Once again Nigerian students have just completed their Secondary School leaving West African School Certificate (WAEC) examination and as usual the number of candidates caught cheating has increased! Those who are caught tend to be those trying out their personally designed cheating method. Those who are hardly ever caught are candidates who have invested in the seemingly fool-proof exam-malpractice industry. In Nigeria there is a clear distinction between cheating and malpractice. Although examination malpractice is defined as "academic dishonesty or academic fraud which involves any kind of cheating in the examination hall", in Nigeria cheating is something done by an individual candidate. It comprises smuggling in notes, copying from other students and such mundane efforts to improve scores.

Exam malpractice is a different matter altogether. It's a highly organized "industry"; which is a conspiracy between school proprietors, officials of the State Ministry of Education, officials of WAEC, examination invigilators, machineries (those who provide the answers) and the students themselves. In the colonial days and indeed up until the 1960's the pursuit of genuine educational qualifications was the main ambition of the majority of Nigerian youths. These days, not surprisingly given the dire economic and security challenges facing the nation, their main ambition is to either acquire extra-ordinary wealth, or to get out of the country and seek better prospects for a better life elsewhere.

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