By Nnamdi Ojiego

The menace of examination malpractice in Nigeria has assumed an alarming and embarrassing dimension in both external and internal examinations.

Worried by this ugly development, some stakeholders in the education sector gathered at the 9th Chrisgate International Summit (a motivational network success summit for students preparing for examinations), to discuss and seek ways out of the problem.

The speakers who included the President, Chrisgate International, Christopher Alabi; Managing Director, Mama’s Creche, Tonia Taiwo, and Mr. Folarin Olayinka, among others, were unanimous on the urgent need to find a lasting solution to the fraud called examination malpractice.

Guest Speaker, Managing Director Mama’s Creche Tonia Taiwo President Chrisgate International, Christopher Alabi and the Senior Pastor, The Fountain Gate Church, Andrew Eluwa at the Chrisgate Motivational Network Success Summit for students in Lagos.

Objective of the summit
According to the organisers, the aim of the summit was to disabuse the minds of students from indulging in examination malpractice by bringing credible persons from the education sector to come and motivate the students to success.

“Our main aim is to curb examination malpractice by adequately equipping students for exams because when they are well prepared, there will be no need to indulge in examination malpractice. “Before now, most people believed that we operate a ‘miracle center’ where they can just walk in with their money and buy all the papers while others believed that we would assist them with ‘expo’ to pass their exam, but they were disappointed.

“We don’t encourage examination malpractice in whatever form but lectures and mentoring only, and any of our staff found aiding examination crimes will be shown the way out immediately.

Exam Malpractice, a cankerworm
Examination malpractice has become a cankerworm. It is like a disease that has eaten deep into every facet of our educational system, and has affected the quality of graduates being churned out by our educational institutions. The situation has become so worrisome that students not only cheat but also employ more sophisticated means of executing the act.

One of the major causes of examination malpractice is over-emphasis on paper qualification, which has been the yardstick for employment. This has discouraged concentration on vocational training and relocated the mentality of large number of youth to taking formal education as a must. This, also, has made a lot of people cheating during exams.

Speakers at the summit agreed that parents have important roles to play in what their wards become. Therefore, they believe that parents have contributed to the alarming rate of examination malpractice, and some go as far as hiring ‘mercenaries’ to write exams for their children. They urged parents not to neglect their responsibility to their children.

“It is not enough to feed them and pay their school fees, but parents need to be there for them – talk to them, monitor, encourage and support them. Parents can’t afford to fail their children because whatever the children turn out to be in future will directly or indirectly affect their parents.”

Blaming government for not doing enough to stem the tide of exam malpractice, the organizers called on government to create the enabling environment for education to thrive.

“Some policies, such as quota system, are violating academic merit and these encourage giving preference to lesser qualified candidates. Also, some states offer free education to their indigenes, but the central government has not done much to support that move by ensuring that education is free across the nation.

Not sparing the students, the speakers urged the students to be serious with their studies.

“Students should motivating themselves and avoid being carried away by things happening around them. They must believe in themselves, have a sense of purpose and faith in achieving whichever goal they have set for themselves.”