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Inside the school hall in a typical Nigerian examination centre, young men and women are seated with rapt attention as they listen to a middle aged, well built man, clutching a folder containing some sheets of paper. He is surrounded by other ladies and gentlemen, numbering about five, who apparently are waiting for him to give them the go ahead to start distributing the examination question papers and answer booklets.
He clears his throat, pointing his fingers at nobody in particular, as if sounding a warning to a recalcitrant child who has refused to heed his mother’s scolding, “If you like, go ahead and cheat in this examination!” He blurts out, “Remember that whosoever is caught in examination malpractice will face a 21-year prison sentence. It is the law.” From the crowd of seated candidates waiting to take the Senior School Certificate Examination (SSCE), someone retorts sarcastically “Na today?” implying that the threat is brutum fulmen, an empty threat. The others giggle while the examination official that has been addressing the candidates tries to resist a frown.
This is the kind of ceremony that precedes examinations nowadays. Examination officials, invigilators, school authorities, as the case may be, fill the ears of candidates with sermons against exam malpractice. All the time, candidates pay attention, except for the occasional side conversations and ensuing giggling. As the examination commences, candidates are seen making frantic efforts to outsmart each other in exam malpractice. Sadly, on some occasions, the officials who have just finished sermonizing facilitate the easy flow of the malpractice.
Examination malpractice in Nigeria has attained frighteningly sophisticated proportions. It is a little short of being institutionalized. Efforts by governments at all levels and stakeholders in the educational sector to curtail the ugly trend have not yielded much fruit. It is saddening to note that examination bodies, government functionaries, school authorities, invigilators, parents and students all now participate in the iniquitous exam malpractice. This article will however concentrate on exam malpractice in the senior school certificate examinations. That is where it all began and where, if ever, it must be stopped.
We can extrapolate to some extent from the present trend that examination malpractice will utterly destroy the quality of education in Nigeria if decisive steps are not taken to checkmate the trend. The intractable nature of examination malpractice has resulted in the high turnover of half-baked graduates by institutions of higher learning. It is really saddening to note that the Nigerian graduate is fast becoming unemployable in industries and inadmissible in foreign institutions. This is direct fallout from the tolerance of the vice in our educational system over the years.
Apparently appalled by the spate of examination malpractice, the Nigerian Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB), in 2001, introduced variations in the numeration of questions for candidates sitting for the same matriculation examination. That year, candidates’ performance in JAMB examination was awfully poor. But it did not take long for the syndicates to devise other means to beat JAMB’s laudable innovation and that, without gainsay, was with the effective collaboration and connivance of some unscrupulous JAMB officials.
Exam malpractice has long graduated from the normal giraffing at neighbors’ work, using key points, notes or text books or copying on sheets of papers referred to as ‘microchips’, or copying on desks or laps also known as ‘desktop publishing’ and ‘laptop publishing’, respectively to a more advanced and more organized system of buying questions from examination bodies or corrupt bank officials entrusted with the safekeeping of the examination question papers.
Also, syndicates have been able to arrange ‘special’ centers for their ‘special’ candidates, enrolled for the exam at exorbitant and unapproved fees with the connivance of examination bodies for the easy perpetration of malpractice. These ‘miracle’ centers enjoy the patronage of some corrupt school administrators and examination officers. Why on earth should an examination body allow a school to enroll over a hundred candidates when the total number of Senior Secondary School (SSS) I & II students is less than 50? What has happened to continuous assessment of old?
These syndicates have made it very easy for somebody to acquire a Senior School Certificate of Education without necessarily entering the examination hall. ‘Mercenaries’ abound to impersonate the candidates without adverse consequence. This trend has, sadly, crept into international examinations like the British and the American-sponsored examinations (City and Guilds, SAT, TOEFL, etc) organized in Nigeria. These syndicates have also devised mind-boggling means of impersonating and cheating during these examinations.
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Writer Profile
Saintmoses Eromosele
The author is a Nigerian writer, editorial consultant and community organizer born in Benin City.
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Comments
hi eghere udumetotor | May 17th, 2008
i love ur publication u are xtremely fatastic
This article is timely Iyere Valentine Era-Imuse | Jul 1st, 2008
Thank you Saintmoses for this piece of brilliant expositor on the menace of examination malpractice in Nigeria. Education in nigeria has suffered so much neglect and the government have played down on the value of education in nation building hence they allowed the menace of examination malpractice to blossom by their wilful acquiscence. Kep writing. Perhaps someday there would be a redeemer for education in Nigeria - the great country with little minds ruling.
R Kahendi | Jul 2nd, 2008
Your writing talent is amazing, Eromosele. One thing though: sounds to me like exam malpractice is institutionalized in the set up you describe. It's a sad trend, and one that, as you can imagine, is happening elsewhere in the continent and in the world. I think the problem lies in the focus on standardized tests. Standardized tests should not displace continuous assessment exercises in priority, but they seem to have done just that.
to ask a question Onyeka Ezike | Aug 11th, 2008
i need you to help me on this issue of investigation of special centres among secondary school student on the quality of education in nigeria,and also the problem and prospect.
Nice work Bazino | Mar 19th, 2010
i have read through your write up, i think i have no option than to agree with you completely. it is a true reflection of the Nigerian situation and the suggestions you gave will help to check the menance
msg Azeez Fatai Aderemi | May 28th, 2010
Is a very good write-up. Good job
ibinabo | Nov 5th, 2010
this is quite lively but how do you protect ur work?
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