Conventionally, examinations are considered as a way of examination of students who’ve gone through one degree of education or still another by the end of a expression, term or academic year. However, among other disturbing developments which the industry is encountering in the country in these times, the likelihood of examination malpractices in the Nigerian academic process is just a cardinal one that is quickly accepting a level of national and international distress and dangerous dimension. It is just a damaging crisis, which if not healed soon, may possibly destroy the nation’s all-important education sector.
Examination malpractices are usually called wrongdoings before, throughout or following examinations. And, without mincing words, these are having showing, bad effects on the nation’s quality of jamb expo, only as many college leavers and graduates cannot protect their certificates. As menacing as this endemic trend may look, urgent steps must be followed for the cankerworm not to destroy the nation’s potential entirely before extended: it’s also critical to be neglected. And, this is actually, another cogent reason Nigeria wants moral renaissance and price regeneration in most aspects of their national life.
So how exactly does one explain what an examination malpractice is? According to Nwana (2000), examination malpractice is described since the “massive and unprecedented abuse of rules and rules regarding central and public examinations, start from the placing of such examinations through the taking of the examinations, their marking and grading, to the discharge of the results and the issuance of certificates.”
In an identical vein, an academic has tried yet another information with this unbridled trend as “the act of omission or commission supposed to produce a scholar move examination without relying absolutely on his/her independent capacity or resources.”
Specific study studies, ideas, instructive and informed submissions of educationalists, academics, and other prime stakeholders in this particular market of the nation’s economy, nevertheless, have suggested that there have been one type of examination malpractice or one other before since in the early 1970s when “bulk cheating was perpetrated in WAEC” (West African Examinations Council).
Perhaps, that realisation jolted the examination body at the extra college level to study really, numerous manifestations and degree of the retrogressive inclination. It supposedly, categorised different kinds of examination malpractice as including providing in foreign materials to exam halls, unusual activities inside and external examination halls, collusion, impersonation, loss, mass cheating and insult/assault on supervisors throughout exams.
Other designs of exam malpractices recognized by WAEC include assistance of candidates by invigilators to solution or have hint to hard ideas, although some invigilators also visit the extent of addressing some parts of the question for candidates, besides other types as “giraffing, contraband, bullet, super printing, escort, missiles, and pregnant biros.”
Nevertheless, what has happened to the success of the country’s education process from that time until this very day? Unfortunately, in the extended 21st Century, examination malpractices of varying types, forms and manifestations, incontrovertibly, have worsened and develop into a national problem. The unbecoming inclination voraciously, continues to eat heavy into the cultural cloth, from principal colleges to tertiary institutions of learning throughout the Nigerian Federation. It’s no wonder then, that the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), of recent, passionately asked the National Assembly to declare a situation of emergency in the education industry so as to consciously revamp the missing glory of the after thriving industry.
While many stakeholders in the industry yet, think that the prevalent malaise the education industry is not merely perpetrated by the students alone, but also with the effective connivance of different stakeholders, including teachers, protection brokers, exam invigilators, units, supervisors, and such, examination malpractices have equally been defined by some in the know of the pervasiveness of the discouraging trend as “traditional and institutionalised multibillion Naira company”, which some depraved people, teams and institutions supply fat in the country at the time of now.
But then, a important problem any honest-minded Nigerians must question themselves at this moment is: How did Nigeria get to the decadent state in their education market? In the same way some key stakeholders and specialists severally, have expressed genuine problems concerning the frequent injury regular exam malpractices are wreaking on the nation, several facets have already been advanced because of this ugly development.