Say No to Examination Malpractice

     

Examination malpractice is defined as a deliberate wrong doing contrary to official examination rules designed to place a candidate at an unfair advantage or disadvantage. It is any illegal act committed by a student single handedly or in collaboration with others before, during or after examination in order to obtain undeserved marks or grades. (Miss Wilayat, I.E.R University of Peshawar).

Malpractices commonly committed in examination range from leakage of question papers to copying, changing answer books, impersonation, allotment of choice examination centre and invigilating staff; leaking information about question papers; bribing/influencing/terrorising examination staff; possessing cheating material (written/printed/electronic device etc)/copying from such material; carrying offensive weapons, refusing/resisting the lawful orders of supervisory staff, creating disturbance, instigating other candidates, threatening or assaulting the invigilating staff, impeding the progress of examination, in or outside the examination; helping the candidates in viva voce, practical examination, etc.

How do parents contribute to examination malpractice? 

They approach teachers and invigilating staff and give them money and gifts in order to bribe them to provide unfair advantage to their child(ren)/ward(s) before and during examination.

What about d teachers, how do they encourage examination malpractice? 

There is gross inadequacy of qualified teachers in our schools; some of them lack devotion to their profession; some are unaware of effective teaching/learning objectives; some are not properly trained, and no capacity building; and some are not interested in providing moral training to students.

Why would a student whose future can be enhanced with a good education engage in examination malpractice?

a)     Inadequate preparation and desire to pass at all cost. Poor preparation promotes poor performance.

b)                 Affected by the previous experiences. Friends provide them encouragement.

c)                 Supported by society

d)                 Supported by parents

e)                 High parental expectations

The high rate of examination malpractice has caused the defeat of the core purpose of education which is the training of the mind and character for the acquisition of practical and theoretical skills, knowledge and functional ideas for development; and the search for truth and knowledge and the creation and communication of ideas (http://teensworldng.wordpress.com).

Examination malpractice has been sustained due to social factors which place undue emphasis on certificates for school and job placements, economic, political and personal reasons, low self-esteem, and poor parental-child relationship amongst others. 

Time management, ethics and integrity are the solution to all the examination ills. The 3P’s for academic excellence are—Praying, Planning and Persistent hard work—Praying to God for success without matching it with good study Plans and use of time and Persistent hard work will not lead to the achievement of the goal of academic excellence. 

Any Christian involved in examination malpractices lacks faith in God. The person has belittled God; he is trusting in bullets and microchips instead of placing his trust in God (Psalm 20:7).

The Bible says, "Study to show yourself approved to God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth" (2 Tim. 2:15, AKJV). This implies that the search for knowledge is worthwhile and studying diligently and for the right reasons too, is commendable. This rules out any excuse for ignorance, slothfulness, and fraud.

The devil has sent the word out that studying is tedious, and many who have been victims of a skewed value system where merit is sacrificed on the altar of mediocrity and nepotism may be completely discouraged but the word of God provides us the road map for our success in life and it cannot condone examination malpractice. 

Examination malpractice is fraud and nothing else and it erodes the credibility of the student, the institution, and ultimately, the nation.

Check out these facts: 

-Despite the malpractice in Nigeria in the last almost a decade, Nigeria remains the poorest in Mathematics and English language in WAEC amongst the other four West African Countries

-About seventy percent of Private and Government schools across the country indulge in examination fraud

-More than 75% of SSCE certificate holders in the last five years are brandishing results that are not their effort

-Many of these students today have A’s in English but can hardly construct flawless sentences in English or speak fluent well tensed English" 

(Victor Udoh: Exam Malpractice, Our Today and Tomorrow). 

The question remains, "What have we gained?"

The Scripture declares, "In all labor there is profit, But idle chatter leads only to poverty" (Prov. 14:23, NKJV). 

All hard work pays off. Industrious people are generally thriving people, and where there is something done there is something to be had. The stirring hand gets a penny. 

“Whatever our hand finds to do to do, we should do it with all our might” (Eccl. 9:10). 

When we, as teenage students, spend time on unworthy endeavours instead of studying hard to acquire knowledge, wisdom, and understanding, we surrender to looming poverty, and ultimate destruction.