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.
The Nigerian SSCE and GCE are worst hit by this menace. I had an interesting meeting with a lady who told me she had passed her NECO SSCE with flying colours. “Congratulations, you had eight B2,” I said to her, genuinely glad at her ‘achievement’.
“Thank you Uncle,” she replied unhappily.
“Why are you not excited at your result?” I wondered.
“I am afraid”, she complained. “I am very worried that I cannot defend this result. Would they ask me to defend it, uncle?” I was stunned. Eight B2 (distinctions) for a blockhead! It is proof that things have gone overboard.
Why is it that very many, if not most, students refuse to take the SSCE in the school they attended? Instead they become external candidates in other schools, where they pay exorbitant fees that allow them to perpetrate examination malpractice. The Ministries of Education and the examination bodies do not take cognizance of this trend. Even when they do, it is only to pay lip service to their responsibilities. Therefore, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many schools have tagged the fee that candidates pay for ease in carrying out examination malpractice ‘cooperation fees’ or ‘practical fees’.
The best explanation that candidates give for changing their schools is that candidates don’t pass examinations there, particularly if the school is one with some reputation for examination ethics. Hence they go to a place where their ‘success’ will be guaranteed. Why would exam bodies and the Ministry of Education permit external candidates to sit for SSCE, a school examination? The ability to enroll in any school is partially responsible for the recalcitrant behavior and indiscipline in today’s students. We seem to have lost track of what the GCE was meant for.
The special centers usually advertise a hundred percent pass in all external examinations. What a shame! The mind-boggling question is whether examiners pass candidates on the basis of the center in which an examination was written. Little wonder that an over 50% increase in SSCE enrolment is recorded in such centers (schools) every year and no investigations are carried out by anyone. Invigilators, exam officials, police and Ministry of Education inspectors who have been ‘settled’ with the cooperation fee allow malpractice to go on without hitches. It is only those centers that cannot pay the cooperation fee which examination bodies and Ministries of Education expose to media publicity when one or two candidates are unfortunately caught in malpractice.
Most private schools, if not all, invest huge sums of money, which students contribute to cooperation fees to sponsor exam malpractice in order to maintain a high performance in certificate exams. Sometimes they record exam success as high as 100%. 2004 statistics indicate that Zamfara State tops the list of exam malpractice with 47.89%, closely followed by Abia State with 41.71%.
Stakeholders in the educational sector attended a meeting in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State Capital recently at the instance of the National Consultative Committee on Education (NCCE). At the meeting, the then Minister for Education, Prof. Fabian Osuji (who was later dismissed by President Olusegun Obasanjo for his alleged involvement in a bribe scandal that equally claimed the office of the then Nigerian Senate President, Adolphus Wabara) stated that, henceforth, schools involved in examination malpractice of any magnitude would be derecognized and barred from enrolling candidates for any public examination for three years. Good talk backed with consequent levity!
The Federal Government has given many such directives in the past without any effect, probably because of lack of sincerity of purpose. They simply blow hot and cold even as defaulting schools get more recognition as magic centers for exam success, smiling all the way to the banks with the money gained from increased enrollment. No one has been sanctioned save for un-cooperating schools (ie those that do not pay the cooperation fee).
How has exam malpractice attained such gargantuan proportions in our society? Certificates issued by exam bodies like NECO, WAEC, JAMB etc lack credibility. It is incontrovertible that exam malpractice thrives in a corrupt society, which indicates that it is a reflection of the society. The problem lies in the people’s psyche, therefore it can only be tackled in their minds. The question is, are the people ready to tackle this sweet poison?
To fight effectively in this war against exam malpractice, all the agents of socialization must participate actively in stemming the ugly scenario. The homefront (parents) must deliberately discourage their children and wards from further participation in the act by refraining from financing their exam malpractice. Instead, they should encourage the children and wards to study harder, give them quality education and make them earn their qualifications so that they can be a source of pride.
Examination bodies like NECO, WAEC, NABTEB, JAMB and others must totally dissociate themselves from the activities of malpractice syndicates and stop concession postings. Exam bodies should break the vicious circle of exam malpractice by centralizing the posting of candidates to exam centers and by meting out appropriate sanctions or punishment on offenders without fear of intimidation or favor.
Exam bodies must also review the remuneration of their supervisors and invigilators. It has been observed by this writer that in many cases, supervisors are neither paid their supervision fee immediately after the supervision exercise nor given any mobilization fee before the exercise. Sometimes, they get paid twelve months after the exercise. What a set up for disaster! Remuneration for examination supervisors and invigilators should be reviewed and such remuneration should be promptly paid to prevent them from being tempted to involve themselves in the rather lucrative business of examination malpractice.
Invigilators, school authorities, police personnel and other exam officials should be put under surveillance as they are major stakeholders in the business of examination malpractice. The government and its agencies should henceforth stop handling cases of examination malpractice with kid gloves. Practicable laws should be enacted to check this menace. The law should not recognize sacred cows. Anyone caught cheating or perpetrating examination malpractice should be made to face the music irrespective of status or connections.
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