The Registrar /Chief Executive of National Examinations Council (NECO), Professor Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, has expressed his readiness to root out incidents of exam malpractice in all its examinations.
Professor Wushishi, who stated this at a one-day sensitization workshop on examination malpractice, on Monday in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, said: “No doubt, examination malpractice has the tendency to discourage hard work among serious students, lowers educational standards, discredit certificates, and lead to the production of quacks, thereby affecting the manpower needs of the nation.”
Speaking on the theme of the workshop, ‘The Role of Education Stakeholders in Tackling Examination Malpractice in Nigeria,’ he said there is urgent need to curtail the problem to ensure all-round development of the country.
While noting that malpractice is one of the biggest challenges bedeviling the conduct of public examinations now, he said the workshop is thoughtful and timely and should address the ways and means that can be adopted to curb the menace and re-orient the minds of the youths concerning this cankerworm.
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“No nation develops when its youths indulge in sharp practices such as examination malpractice. We must therefore take collective responsibility to rid them of this bad habit of wanting to cut corners,” he said.
Speaking further, the NECO boss said the Council has included effective conduct of accreditation and re-accreditation exercise in schools, biometric data capturing of candidates to check impersonation of candidates registered for examination and to help identify miracle centres where examination malpractice are perpetrated as parts of measures to curb the menace.
On his part, Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Nanah Opiah, said exam malpractice is a major threat to the aim of education and that the workshop would create the desired awareness to eliminate the menace.
“Examination is a form of assessing the learners’ understanding, knowledge, ability and general comprehension of what they have been taught. This gives the teachers the feedback on their instructional processes but evidence has shown the increasing incidence of examination malpractice by students and learners at all levels conflicts with the aim of education.”
He said all stakeholders such as teachers, parents and students must show a high level of commitment and honesty.
“The government must also put in place a policy to deter such acts and punish offenders,” the minister said.
Akwa Ibom State governor, Udom Emmanuel, represented by Commissioner for Education, Idongesit Etiebet, described exam malpractice as a social plague and lamented that many young Nigerians continue to devise various measures to perpetrate fraud during examination.
“The practice of examination practice has refused to abate. The advent of social media has compounded the menace. Akwa Ibom has zero tolerance for examination malpractice and various measures have been put in place to check the menace,” he said.
