THE MENACE OF EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE IN NIGERIA

Education is a process of teaching and learning to get knowledge and develop skills. Education is the key to success. Your success in life is debatable if you are not educated. But in Nigeria today, the standard of education has fallen to an uncontrollable level. There are many reasons behind this, and it is obvious to all. But for the sake of this book, let me review the evils of examination malpractice in Nigeria. Examination malpractice is a situation in which candidates for an examination are given, or take upon themselves, an undue benefit to gain easy success. It is an illegal way of passing an examination.


Examination malpractice has consistently remained a problem on Nigeria‘s educational system. No matter the level of the exam in Nigeria today, there must be certain degrees of examination malpractice. It is bad! And the worst part of it is that students in Nigeria today no longer think of reading, let alone attending lectures or classes. Examination malpractice has penetrated into the heads of the students to such an extent that reading are now mere theories to them. Serious reading has become boredom. It is no wonder therefore that academic certificates being issued to graduates in Nigeria are worthless and are regarded as mere ‘asambodo’. The sanctity of education and examination in Nigeria has been broken and violated.

How can a student preparing for an examination, instead of going through the pages of his or her book will be busy copping “trash” on pieces of papers to take into the examination hall. Some even enter the exam hall with textbooks. Others construct a form of drawer under their lockers where all those pieces of paper and textbooks are kept to be used inside the exam hall. Students who do such things are not reasonable, wasting their time and money on worthless things instead of learning to acquire the knowledge directly into their brains.
effects of examination malpractice in nigeria

Obviously, the issue of handset or mobile phones have contributed immensely to the growth of examination malpractice. A student will be inside the exam hall writing and another person (mercenary) is elsewhere solving the whole questions and sending them to the student through ‘SMS’. This is horrible!

A portion of the blame must be accorded to our teachers and examination supervisors. In fact, they are the founders of this immoral act, because they collect reasonable amounts of money from the students and connive with these examination cheats to have a field day in the hall. What of the cases of night examination? Only God knows what these universities that took their aptitude test in the night will release as the result. It was advertised that the aptitude test was aimed at bringing a long lasting solution to JAMB exam scam, but what do we have today? To pass your aptitude test and gain admission into the university is a monetary affair.
examination malpractice

This fall of academic standard of the Nigerian nation portend devastating dangers if not checked. Creativity and innovation is lacking in the modern day students of Nigeria. This must be due to the fact that there was no sanity in the process of academic or knowledge acquisition. They are thought little or nothing. Nigeria is lacking not only qualified but seasoned teachers and lecturers. Most of the lecturers we have today are so lazy that they cannot even give a good assessment to students. Most of them do not come to class for almost the whole semester; only to come a day and take attendance as the continuous assessment, just to indict the students who might have missed the class just for that day. But they, themselves, have been missing the class on many occasions before now. This is very unfair to the students. Most graduates today are pseudo-intellectuals. They do not stand their test of time. They are half-baked because there was no thoroughness in the process of assessment and certificate acquisition.
Indolence on the part of the students must not be forgotten, serious reading has gone with the wind. They attend parties; engage in examination malpractice, prostitution, drug addition, stealing, cultism and other nefarious activities practiced in school. The negative trend can also be found in employees engaging in jobs they are not suited for, since the certificate they claim to have was not merited.
examination malpractice
The solution to the Nigerian problem is not farfetched. We know our problem. To know a problem is half-way to solving it. Gone are the days when we emphasize and overemphasize on qualified teacher. To employ a teacher or lecturer on the ground of being ordinarily qualified should end. After all the qualification is based on the certificate which is the issue at stake. The activities of these teachers and lecturers in school must be meticulously supervised to ensure that none neither exceeds nor breaches his or her limits. The teachers on the other hand should be appropriately remunerated. Proper incentives necessary for learning such as the laboratory, the classrooms, should not lack. Strict supervision of exams and proper assessments should be encouraged at all levels of schooling. Any student who fails a promotion exam should be asked to repeat. Those who engage in cultism, prostitution, stealing and other juvenile vices should be expelled: I believe that the standard of education in Nigeria will upgrade if all those are implemented appropriately. The governments and other concerned institutions should take cognizance of all these shortfalls and salvage Nigeria from this dungeon of academic slumber, so that we can at least have a say educationally in the assembly of the world. May God help us.

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