CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background to the Study
Teachers at different stages use examination to assess and evaluate the academic achievement of students in the school system. In all teaching and learning situations therefore, it is essential to find out from time to time how much the students are achieving from what they are being taught. In order to do this effectively, Teachers Examination Council, National Teachers Institute (NTI), Classroom Teachers etc. assess the students by administering weekly, termly, end of year test and or final examinations. The overall aim of education is to shape the behaviour of an individual, so that he or she can perform most effectively within his/her social milieu.
Bearing in mind the role that education plays in nation building, a nation stands the risk of being under developed in terms of accumulation of illiteracy, disease and poverty when its youths rejects the honour of getting sound education and seems to opt for fraudulent activities and deceptive ways in making ends meet as epitomized by examination malpractices thereby negating the philosophy of sound education. The products of such a system can only grow up to be cynics, unbelievers, insensible, dishonest, ignorant, narrow-minded, myopic, unintelligent, deceptive, close-minded, one sided beings who would be indifferent to the issues of development and powerless to act, create and succeed.
Examination malpractices have a paralyzing effect on the developing nation. It puts our youth, future leaders and professionals in a situation that leads to a future of social, political and economic insanity and bankruptcy. Engaging in examination malpractice leads to cancellation of results which means great waste of resources to society and parents, and provides sources of great agony and injustice to innocent students.
The importance of examination or test taking for diagnosis, placement, classification and quality control in Nigerian institutions have been greatly eroded and corrupted with malpractice which constitute one of the most debilitating problems facing our education institutions today, and they are constantly manifested and reported in our schools, colleges and other higher institutions.
Examination malpractice is any activity of a student or group of students whose purpose is to give any of them higher grades than they would likely receive on the basis of their own achievements. Fatai (2005) defines it as any irregular act exhibited by candidates or anybody charged with the conduct of examination which is clearly a breach of the rules governing the conduct and integrity of the examination. It is viewed as any act carried out before, during and after an examination, which is against the rules set out for the proper and orderly conduct of the examination, which is clearly a breach of the rules governing the conduct and integrity of the examination. It has been further described as an action done to gain undue advantage over other candidates which is against the rule and regulations governing the conduct of such examination for personal gain. Ojerinde (2000) revealed that cheating in examinations is motivated by:
i. The desperation to acquire certificate or get placed in a programme or be selected for a position.
ii. Carelessness on the part of the teacher/examiners in safeguarding the examination paper before it is administered.
The National Policy on Education (FGN 2004) stipulates that there is need for functional education for the promotion of a progressive and united Nigeria. To this end, school programmes needed to be relevant, practical and comprehensive: while interest and ability should determine individual direction in education.
Examination malpractice is any illegal act committed by a student single handedly or in collaboration with others; like fellow students, parents, teachers, supervisors, invigilators, printers and anybody or group of people before, during or after examination in order to obtain undeserved marks or grades (Wilayat, 2009). The West African Examinations Council (1992) referred to examination malpractice as any irregular behaviour exhibited by candidates or officials charged with the responsibility of conducting examination, in or outside the examination hall, before, during or after such examination. It involves various methods employed bycandidates to cheat during examinations. Similarly, Shonekan (1996) stated that examination malpractice is an act of omission or commission that contravenes those West African Examinations Council’s rules and regulations to the extent of undermining the validity and reliability of the test and ultimately the integrity of the certificate issued by the Council. Examination malpractice does not occur in the examination hall alone, it occurs before, during and even after the examination.
Some forms of examination malpractices are copying on sheet of papers, handkerchiefs, desk/chairs; swapping of answer booklets and collusion with other candidates or external agents. Others include leakage of examination questions before the actual examination day. In some schools, especially, those privately owned, the school authorities sometimes bribe invigilators, supervisors and police personnel drafted to the centres so that they could turn a blind eye when malpractices are being perpetrated. Electronic gadgets like calculators, organizers, radio walk man and mobile phones are also used to carryout examination malpractices. Annually, examination bodies give warnings to the candidates to desist from bringing mobile phones into the examination halls but each year, the use of mobile phones to commit examination malpractice is recorded(Onyechere,2007).
Other forms of examination malpractices are bringing books or cribs into the hall, insulting or assaulting supervisor or invigilator, replacement of answer script with another one during or after the examination, impersonation, smuggling scripts written outside into the examination hall, writing on thigh, stretching of neck like the Giraffe to look at the work of a fellow candidate, hooligans gaining entry into the examination hall by force when examination is in progress, to remove question paper, talking, dictation of answers to students, e.t.c.
