The desperation for students to perform well in their examination as well as graduate with good results has continued to fuel examination malpractice in schools.
It has become so bad that students are not just the ones cheating in examinations, but teachers and some school managements have become champions of the act just to appear to be good teachers or good schools with high-grade results.
Despite numerous efforts to curb the menace of malpractice in the education system, it still persists. Examination bodies keep recording malpractice yearly, which has been discovered to be aided by supervisors, proprietors, parents and fraudulent individuals.
A student, who wants to be addressed as Chinedu, said their teachers were asked to help them during external examination by the parents and school management.
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“They said it is in the interest of the school to do so as no parents will want their wards to come to schools that are not doing well,” he said
He explained that some of the supervisors were invited to the head teacher’s office, while the teachers used the opportunity to help students.
“Sometimes, they write on the board for subjects like mathematics, physics and chemistry and then clean the board before the supervisor comes back and for other subjects they read out the answers and also go round to check what we were writing,” he said.
He said they were taught well and encouraged to study hard but that it was easier when teachers helped because it gave them confidence and assurance that they would pass.
A teacher who does not want to be mentioned said, for them in private schools, the pressure and competition are so high that many teachers are forced to take that route.
He said some parents single out teachers and begin to shower them with gifts and later they tell you their intentions and they don’t expect the teacher to say no.
“I once kicked against it in my former school and ended up leaving there, but when I got to another school I realised I couldn’t run away, especially when they made it seem like it’s the right thing. Other teachers get praised and rewards so it’s a matter of if you can’t beat them join them,” he said.
An educationist, Dr Rasheedat Sadiq, noted that it is not all schools that pressure their teachers to aid students to cheat in exams but some of them do.
She said in such instances, the teacher has to take a stand.
“I know people who have left jobs because of that and other people have just vowed to work as hard as possible to make sure that their students know enough, so that they don’t have to help them cheat and basically that’s what the schools want; they want the children to pass because schools are able to gain publicity based on their WAEC results,” she said.
She said the issue of standardized tests is something that is being debated because a number of people read for the test.
“They can even pass the tests on their own but they are not able to think critically. They’re able to cram and pour what the WAEC wants to see but when they are given tasks, they can’t do them. Although, we know that most people that are able to actually pass the test on their own are trainable,” she said.
She noted that there are schools that force their teachers to help cheat and then sometimes it’s the teachers, without the management of the school knowing, who try to help the children to pass the exams because they will be recognised as teachers that are doing well.
“So for other schools, they are kind of taking the “If you can’t beat them, you join them approach” because there are still schools in this country that are well known as miracle centres where those children that do not want to read and have not completed the syllabus go to fast track their admission into university because miracle centres will provide miracle results.”
“Some of the schools feel since other schools are doing it, we might as well help our students; we’re teaching them, so we are better than those schools that are not teaching at all. But at the end of the day, in my opinion, cheating is cheating,” she said.
Dr Rasheedat noted that there are different levels of cheating, saying, some schools may not be actively involved in the cheating but they turn a blind eye when the students are doing it.
“But then also, here, we find that we may have some external supervisors that are complicit. So it’s a big mess.”
She said: “In my school, we don’t condone cheating, but I have seen some parents that are telling us that we are wicked for not doing what other schools are doing to ensure their students pass.”
While noting that it’s a discussion that should be ongoing, she said, “but I find that in the Nigeria of today, many people are still at that level of the end justifies the means.”
Speaking on the implications, Dr Sadiq said once students realised that they will be helped, there will be no motivation to put in their best and to study, and teachers may end up having problems with behaviour in the classroom while teaching.
She further said students will not be doing assignments and may even be cutting class because they know that at the end of the day, they will get their complete results.
Dr Rasheedat said: “So it doesn’t help the school because if care is not taken, the teachers would lose control or lose a grasp for the entire essence of what schooling is supposed to be about. We also know that schooling is not just about knowledge but character.
“Now, what kind of preaching do you want to give to a child about avoiding corruption, hardwork and being diligent when they know that you as a school condone malpractice and probably bribe examiners on their behalf or buy answers. You are not going to be able to achieve what the school is meant to achieve.”
She stressed that for those students who passout half-baked with their complete results, “it always comes back to hurt some of them. It’s when they’re in the university, where they do not have that easy access to cheat, then they fail or drop out because they are not used to studying.
“Those are some of the implications and they end up just generally affecting the quality of our graduates, workforce and the quality of our nation and we want a nation that works,” Dr Rasheedat stated.
The educationist also attributed the problems the nation is having now as likely because of people who about 15 years ago were able to make it through their exams and through life based on hard work and commitment; but that now, the system is corrupt.
“There are far-reaching implications, even for children that are yet on born,” she cautioned.
