Examination Malpractice May Ruin Quality Of Education In Nigeria -By Sani Abdullahi

Education is a backbone of any meaningful development across the world, it’s obvious that development in a contemporary world is associated with the good policy and quality of education in the country therefore Nigeria will not be an exception. According to UN the budget of any country that is willing to make progress educationally, technologically, economically, and politically should commit 25% of their annual budget on education and Nigeria must be in compliance with such policies, but I don’t think our budget on education reflect on such that.

Why the examination malpractice may likely to erode the quality of education in Nigeria? To answer this important question one has to understand the meaning of educational examination malpractice, the causes of examination malpractice, the causes of the examination malpractice and possible solution to the phenomenon.

Examination malpractice simply means cheating during exams, or may also be define as a deliberate wrong doing contrary to official examination rules designed to place a candidate at unfair advantage or disadvantage. The forms of examination malpractice may include the use of relevant materials which include the use of text books, related note books and sometimes use of smart phones in the examination hall or anything that may facilitate cheating during examination.

The followings are consider to be the causes of the examination malpractice in Nigerian context; in Nigeria certificate is being place above the skills and technical know-how this has prompted the students at all the level to involve in the examination in order to get a grade that eventually can’t depend it. The society in general and employers in the country in particularly place priority on certificate and disregard all potentials skill in the prospective employee in the process of employment. Poor policies on education as discussed earlier on, poor preparation, poor sitting arrangement in the examination hall, inadequate facilities in the schools and sometimes poor coverage of syllabus by some teachers.

What is the possible way out of this lingering problem? The following ways should be used to address the phenomenon of examination malpractice in Nigeria;

Regular orientation among student e.g primaries, secondary schools and even tertiary institutions of learning. The programs should focus on series of lectures, guidance on how to read and comprehend their lesson and lectures during class hours or school session.

Provision of enough facilities in the schools that will facilitate complete understanding of every lesson teaches by the teachers or lecturers as the case of tertiary institutions.

The school authority should always provide enough manpower that will supervise the conduct of the examination and enforce the strict compliance of the examination rules and regulations in the examination hall or venue.

Government should always enact a laws that will seriously deal with the cases of examination, because it seems that the current law on examination malpractice is obsolete or isn’t enforce totally.

The government should always ensures that teachers cover their syllabus through adequate school supervision.Students should always understand the implications of being involve in the examination malpractice and the repercussions.

Finally, as it has been highlighted above, when these mentioned ways are enforced in all institutions of learning definitely we must have education which is free from malpractice. Hence, we will have competent medical doctors, competent engineers, competent journalist, competent teachers, competent pharmacists and other specialist in the country.

SANI ABDULLAHI

abdullahisanibd@gmail.com