FACTORS PROMOTING EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE AMONG SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS IN IKPOBA OKHA LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA OF EDO STATE

ABSTRACT

Examination malpractice could in our time, involves students, parents, teachers school authorities, examination officials and law enforcement agents, all of who constitute a syndicate that perpetuates the crime. The high incidence of examination malpractice in our society is embarrassing. Its bizarre dimensions have probably not been recognized by the authorities. It is an extension of the problem of indiscipline, which is at the centre of the decline of our educational system. Infact, no other factors threaten to destroy the educational system as examination fraud. Many educationists feel that it is one of the most dangerous potholes on the nations road to educational breakthrough. The purpose of this study was to find out factors promoting examination malpractices among secondary school students in some schools in Edo State: A case study of Ikpoba Okha Local Government Area. In carrying out the study a questionnaire was administered to students. The data collected from students were analyzed and interpreted from the results of the data that the factors promoting examinations malpractice is the strong desire to acquire certificate and the most frequent method used is copying and bringing in of textbooks to examination hall.

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Examination malpractice, which is a problematic phenomenon in our educational system, is the improper or illegal practice, immoral conduct according to the Webster’s comprehensive dictionary. Furthermore, examination malpractice is an illegal way which a student devices to pass an examination. This could be in form of bringing in notebooks to examination halls, cheating during examination, copying from friends, paying another person to help in writing the examination. Another way is to have foreknowledge of questions before the examination. However, examination malpractice could be traced to the colonial days when Nigerian chronicle newspaper of January 9, 1992 widely reported how the questions of senior Cambridge local examination leaked. Although examinations are not only the yardstick for assessing knowledge, it is the major established yardstick and most practical way of assessment of education and ascertaining competence. However, the over dependency on certificates either legitimately or illegitimately in recent times in this country, the incidence of examination malpractices has witnessed increasing trends and this is invariably due to the candidates fear of failure, lacks of confidence, inadequate preparations, laziness and most of the times, inability to apply themselves to the tasks which they have come to do both in secondary and in the higher institution in the country. This bad habit has eaten very deep into our own society.

Students have perfected various forms of cheating in the examination. Some of the methods used in these malpractices include bringing foreign materials into the examination halls. These are designed to assist in passing the examination rather than relying on their own ability. These materials include textbooks; prepared materials written on the pylons, things and they come in various names such as hide and seek microchips, magic text etc. other unwholesome happenings inside and outside the examination halls include stealing of peoples work, converting or misappropriating the script of other candidates, substitution of script at the end of the examination papers only to complain later that their script are missing. There is also collusion between two or more candidates who usually agree before hand to sit and receive assistance from themselves. Impersonation is also very, very common in which a student who writes gets paid or sometimes gets coerced to go and sit for the real candidate in order to pass the examination on behalf of the other candidate. The continued flowering in the vice in the nations educational system has cost a debilitating darkness on the integrity of certificate Nigerians carry’s about, and infact examination fraud is being touted as the root cause of all other societal ills like 419 and other financial crimes in Nigeria. Although government over the years has given the impression that it lacks the will to implement the exam malpractice law No. 33 of 1999 which stipulates imprisonment of culprits. Our problem in the country is not restricted to 419; it is not restricted to financial crimes or bank fraud. If we want to tackle these problems from the roots, we need to go the examination malpractice.