NAN-H-95
Malpractice
By Chinyere Nwachukwu
Lagos, June 7, 2017 (NAN) The Examination Ethics International said on Wednesday that examination malpractice had remained one of the greatest challenges and corruption facing the education sector in Nigeria.
The Chairman and Founder of the body, Mr Ike Onyechere, made the remarks while addressing newsmen on the sideline of the inauguration of the Yaba College of Technology chapter of the body.
According to Onyechere, there is no way a country can successfully win the anti-corruption war if it fails to win the examination malpractice battle.
“We have found out, from all indications, that it is this same examination malpractice that breeds corruption, at the grassroots level.
“So, we must join hands to nip that process of breeding and winning corrupt persons in the bud before we start talking about recovering all huge monies that one person is hiding,’’ he said.
According to him, before one catches a person hiding all the billions of naira in a warehouse, the education sector is already busy producing thousands of people willing to take the place of that one person.
The chairman said that this was the essence of taking the fight to the grassroots.
He said the group has been able to transform the attitudes of education stakeholders in favour of examination ethics.
Before, he said, people thought that the scourge was the way to go and therefore, cannot be eliminated.
Thirty principal staff and 40 students were inducted as new Marshals of the college’s chapter of the NGO.
Rector of the College, Dr Margaret Ibiyeye-Ladipo, was conferred with the Examination Ethic Chief Master Marshal award.
The award is the highest honour bestowed by the Examination and Ethics Marshal Movement on leaders, in recognition of outstanding contribution to the promotion of ethics, integrity and best practices in education.
In her remarks, the Rector of the College, Ladipo, lauded the group for carrying its advocacy against examination malpractice to the college.
She said it was a welcome development.
Ladipo, who was represented by a Deputy Rector, Mr Omobayo Raheem, noted that examination malpractice and corruption had become endemic and worrisome.
She said that if not tackled headlong, the vices would destroy the entire country.
“There are people, who feel malpractice cannot be eradicated because from their thinking, `if you cannot beat them, you join them’.
“Corruption has become something that is running in the veins of most Nigerians and we must strive to eradicate it urgently,’’ the rector said.
According to her, stakeholders must begin to tackle it from the conduct of the examination.
She abhorred a situation where some candidates devise various means to cheat in examination such as bring in textbooks, write on their palms, the sole of slippers and shoes, just to pass the examination at all cost.
“This practice is not the best route to success and students should rather strive to leave their respective institutions better than they met it.
“Most worrisome is the fact that some examiners often collude with candidates to cheat,’’ she said.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Examination Ethics Marshals are education stakeholders, who are committed to the code of ethical self-regulation and discipline in their duty posts.
They are also to be models and mentors to pupils, students and other stakeholders.
The Examination Ethics International, an NGO, was founded in Nigeria in 1996. (NAN)
CCN/AIB/AFA
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Edited by Abdulfatah Babatunde/Felix Ajide