Conventionally, examinations are considered as a method of analysis of students who have gone through one degree of education or yet another by the end of a term, semester or academic year. Nevertheless, among other disturbing developments which a is encountering in the united states today 2020/2021 WAEC Expo, the incidence of examination malpractices in the Nigerian instructional program is just a cardinal one that is rapidly accepting an amount of national and global distress and dangerous dimension. It is just a harming epidemic, which if not cured soon, may possibly destroy the nation’s all-important education sector.
Examination malpractices are often called wrongdoings before, all through or following examinations. And, without mincing words, they are having showing, bad effects on the nation’s quality of education, just as much school leavers and graduates cannot protect their certificates. As threatening as that endemic development may seem, urgent measures need to be followed for the cankerworm to not destroy the nation’s future entirely before long: it’s also critical to be neglected. And, this is certainly, still another cogent reason Nigeria wants moral renaissance and value regeneration in most areas of its national life.
How does one identify what an examination malpractice is? Based on Nwana (2000), examination malpractice is identified since the “significant and unprecedented punishment of rules and regulations related to central and public examinations, start from the setting of such examinations through the getting of the examinations, their noticing and grading, to the discharge of the outcomes and the issuance of certificates.”
In the same vein, an academic has tried still another description of this unbridled sensation as “the act of omission or commission intended to make a student pass examination without counting positively on his/her independent ability or resources.” Particular research results, conclusions, instructive and educated submissions of educationalists, academics, and other top stakeholders in that specific sector of the nation’s economy, however, have suggested that there have been one type of examination malpractice or one other before because in the first 1970s when “mass cheating was perpetrated in WAEC” (West African-american Examinations Council).
Perhaps, that realisation jolted the examination human body at the extra college level to examine really, numerous manifestations and degree of this retrogressive inclination. It reportedly, categorised different types of examination malpractice as including bringing in foreign materials to examination halls, irregular activities inside and external examination halls, collusion, impersonation, leakage, bulk cheating and insult/assault on supervisors all through exams.
Other styles of examination malpractices discovered by WAEC include support of candidates by invigilators to solution or have hint to difficult methods, while some invigilators also head to the degree of answering some areas of the issue for individuals, besides other styles as “giraffing, contraband, round, tremendous printing, escort, missiles, and pregnant biros.”
Nevertheless, what’s occurred to the success of the country’s knowledge process from that time till today? However, in the extended 21st Century, examination malpractices of different varieties, forms and manifestations, incontrovertibly, have worsened and become a national problem. The unbecoming tendency voraciously, remains to eat heavy to the cultural fabric, from principal schools to tertiary institutions of understanding across the Nigerian Federation. It’s no surprise then, that the Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), of recent, passionately requested the National Assembly to declare a situation of crisis in the knowledge sector in order to consciously revamp the lost honor of the when growing industry.
While several stakeholders in the industry however, believe that the commonplace malaise the knowledge field is not only perpetrated by the students alone, but in addition with the productive connivance of different stakeholders, including teachers, safety brokers, examination invigilators, models, supervisors, and such, examination malpractices have similarly been identified by some in the know of the pervasiveness of the disheartening tendency as “perennial and institutionalised multibillion Naira company”, which some depraved persons, groups and institutions feed fat in the country as of now.
But, a relevant question any honest-minded Nigerians ought to ask themselves at this moment is: How did Nigeria get to the decadent state in their knowledge market? In the same way some key stakeholders and specialists severally, have stated sincere concerns in regards to the continuous damage frequent examination malpractices are causing on the nation, a number of factors have now been sophisticated with this unpleasant development.
Among other reasons adduced for the astronomical upsurge in examination malpractices recently are that using cases, “questions are not related to the syllabus”, and subsequently, examination malpractices are encouraged. It’s also, been alleged that topic syllabuses are bombarded and burdensome for examination candidates, so that they quite often find it difficult to cope. But, are these tenable reasons for questionable candidates and their depraved collaborators to take part in exam irregularities? It’s just indefensible for prospects to resort to exam irregularities. It’s believed that with determined, conscious initiatives at succeeding in just about any useful endeavour, including examinations, “wherever there’s a will, there’s a way.”
Many students’rising lack of seriousness and ability to take on their future, as many feel that many learners these days are “maybe not prepared to master “.For example, this has been observed that in most public colleges particularly, students are noticed wandering the streets, although some seen with house video cassettes and small drives (CDs/DVDs) and the others enjoying baseball throughout school hours.