Public Awareness of Malpractice during the Examinations by WAEC in Nigeria

Akademische Arbeit , 2017 , 19 Seiten

Soziologie - Individuum, Gruppe, Gesellschaft

This paper examined the impact of awareness creation and administration of various sanctions on examination malpractice, using the West African Examinations Council as a case study. The effects of the awareness level and the sanctions were also critically x-rayed with a view to applauding the results if encouraging or suggesting an improved strategy for an effective control and noticeable reduction in the rate of examination malpractice in public examinations like the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) conducted by WAEC.

The rate of candidates’ involvement in malpractice during the public examinations conducted across West African subregion is of great concern to many stakeholders. In spite of stringent measures taken to curb malpractice, the rate of involvement seems to be increasing geometrically. It is in reaction to this worrisome trend that this study was conducted to probe into the root-cause of continuous indulgence in malpractice during the examinations conducted by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC) in Nigeria. This is with a view to measuring the public awareness level as regards the implications of involvement in examination malpractice and appealing to their moral instinct to eschew this menace, using the proposed theory of awareness-creation and sanction-strategy (SACS). The study employed purposive sampling technique in selecting 10 (ten) states where various stakeholders in education were sampled for the administration of a questionnaire designed to gauge their knowledge of implications of involvement in examination malpractice of different forms. One thousand copies (1,000) of the instrument were administered in the States of Abia, Katsina, Kebbi, Benue, Kwara, Cross-River, Bayelsa, Nasarawa Niger and Edo among the Senior Secondary three Students, their teachers and parents of the same students. These states were purposively selected for their high level of malpractice recorded in the examination conducted by WAEC in recent times. Out of the administered copies of the instrument, nine hundred and forty-two (942) were retrieved for analysis.

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Abstract

The rate of candidates' involvement in malpractice during the public examinations conducted across

West African subregion is of great concern to many stakeholders. In spite of stringent measures

taken to curb malpractice, the rate of involvement seems to be increasing geometrically. It is in

reaction to this worrisome trend that this study was conducted to probe into the root-cause of

continuous indulgence in malpractice during the examinations conducted by the West African

Examinations Council (WAEC) in Nigeria. This is with a view to measuring the public awareness level

as regards the implications of involvement in examination malpractice and appealing to their moral

instinct to eschew this menace, using the proposed theory of awareness-creation and sanction-

strategy (SACS). The study employed purposive sampling technique in selecting 10 (ten) states where

various stakeholders in education were sampled for the administration of a questionnaire designed

to gauge their knowledge of implications of involvement in examination malpractice of different

forms. One thousand copies (1,000) of the instrument were administered in the States of Abia,

Katsina, Kebbi, Benue, Kwara, Cross-River, Bayelsa, Nasarawa Niger and Edo among the Senior

Secondary three Students, their teachers and parents of the same students. These states were

purposively selected for their high level of malpractice recorded in the examination conducted by

WAEC in recent times. Out of the administered copies of the instrument, nine hundred and forty-two

(942) were retrieved for analysis. The data generated was analyzed using descriptive statistics of

frequency counts and simple percentage. From our findings, it was discovered that all the states

displayed high level of awareness regarding the implications of involvement in malpractice during the

WAEC conducted examinations, but in varying degrees. The import of this is that the sanctions

applied to punish those involved in the menace are not deterring and effective enough. This,

therefore informed the conclusion of the study that though more awareness needs to be created

especially among the students who recorded the lowest level of awareness as discovered, radical and

more stringent measures need to be instituted for sanctioning various cases of malpractice. This will

help a great deal to reduce, if not to completely curb the menace of examination malpractice in our

public examinations.

Keywords: Public-examinations, Malpractice, Awareness-creation, Sanction-strategy, Stakeholders

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Introduction

This paper examined the impact of awareness creation and administration of various

sanctions on examination malpractice, using the West African Examinations Council as a case

study. The effects of the awareness level and the sanctions were also critically x-rayed with a

view to applauding the results if encouraging or suggesting an improved strategy for an

effective control and noticeable reduction in the rate of examination malpractice in public

examinations like the West African Senior Secondary Certificate Examinations (WASSCE)

conducted by WAEC.

Statement of the Problem

The rate at which candidates get involved in examination malpractice is increasing at

an alarming rate and this becomes worrisome as it erodes the standard of education in the

Country. Not only that, it also puts to questioning, the integrity of certificates issued by

various examining bodies like the West African Examination Council (WAEC). The fact that

the measures being taken by WAEC to curb the menace of malpractice in its examinations

seem to be ineffective served as an impetus to investigate the reasons why cases of

malpractice keep increasing and suggest possible lasting solutions to this growing

phenomenon.

Literature Review

According to Oxford Advanced Dictionary, malpractice is defined as careless, wrong

or illegal behavior while in a profession. In application to examination, Oyekan (1996) views

examination malpractice as a deliberate act of indiscipline adopted by students or their

privileged accomplices to secure facile success and advantage before, during and after the

administration of a test or examination. To this definition, Oluyeba and Daramola (1993) posit

that examination malpractice is any irregular behaviour exhibited by candidates or anybody

charged with the examination inside or outside the examination hall, before, during or after

such an examination. Going by these definitions, examination malpractice could be seen as

any activity which runs contrary to the approved rules and regulations governing the conduct,

administration or writing of public examinations. These activities, some of which will be

examined later, come at different stages of the examination and consequently mar its validity

as well as the reliability of its outcomes.

The very date and place examination malpractice started in the world is said by

researchers to be unknown. Besides, it could be said to be one of the fall-outs of the fall of

man in the Garden of Eden when Satan deceived Adam and Eve to sin against their Creator. It

could also be argued that Satan sowed this ugly seed which germinated into various forms of

sins and vices which include examination malpractice.

Consequent upon the above, examination malpractice is seen to have been in existence

for a long time. In other words, it is as old as man. Relating this to Nigeria, various sources

report examination malpractice to have been first observed in Nigeria as far back as 1914

when there was a leakage of senior Cambridge Local Examination. This trend continued until

after independence from when it turned out that there was hardly any year that examination

malpractice would not be recorded until 1970.

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As such, examination malpractice became prominent in the 1970s, upon the return of

the youths who were in the colleges and universities before they were conscripted into the

army during the Nigerian civil war in 1967. These youths came back at the end of the war in

1970 and went back to schools to continue with their education. Unfortunately, they were said

to have understood the language of the gun more than what the teacher was saying and thus

were not psychologically and mentally stable enough to read and prepare to pass

examinations. Therefore, they resorted to alternative means of passing the examinations by

engaging in various forms of examination malpractice such as cheating, bribing the examiner

or supervisor and hiring machineries to write for them. This was characteristically manifested

in the West African School Certificate Examination of 1970/1971. This examination was

marred by all manners of irregularities ranging from examination malpractice to leakage of

examination question papers. It must also be put on record here that the advent of technology

has become a catalyst to the spread of examination malpractice in its deployment as there are

now various malpractice offences which are technology driven. Thus, the menace of

examination malpractice establishes itself by moving with the change of time.

In the West African Examinations Council, a number of offences which constitute

malpractice in its examinations have been identified over a period of its corporate existence.

These offences were not only identified, commensurate sanctions were also devised to

discourage malpractice and to serve as deterrent to others. Some of the offences are as

follows:

1.

Bringing Foreign Material into Examination Hall

(1)

Where a candidate is found in the examination hall with notes, textbooks, prepared material or

any other printed material, the candidate's entire results in the examination shall be withheld,

pending cancellation of the result of the subject involved by the appropriate Committee of

Council.

(2)

Where a candidate is found in the examination hall with a blank piece of paper or any other

material not covered under 1(1) above, (except mobile phone or any other electronic

communication device), the entire results of the candidate shall be withheld, pending

cancellation of the results of the subject involved by the appropriate Committee of Council.

(3)

Where a candidate is found with a programmable calculator in the examination hall, the entire

results of the candidate shall be withheld pending cancellation of the result of the subject

involved.

(4)

Where a candidate is found with a mobile phone or any other electronic communication

device in the examination hall, the entire results of the candidate shall be withheld, pending

the cancellation of his/her entire results by the appropriate Committee of council.

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2.

Irregular Activities Inside or Outside the Examination Hall

(1)

Where a candidate is apprehended for offence(s) such as those listed below, inside or outside

the examination hall, the candidate's entire results in the examination shall be withheld

pending cancellation of his/her entire results by the appropriate Committee of Council.

(a)

Stealing, converting or misappropriating the scripts of other candidate(s);

(b)

Substituting worked scripts during or after the examination;

(c)

Seeking or receiving help from non-candidate(s) such as invigilator(s), supervisor(s),

teacher(s) or other personalities during the examination.

(2)

Where the person giving the help is not a candidate for the examination in session, but a

prospective candidate, he/she shall be barred from taking any examination conducted by the

Council for one year and will also be reported to the appropriate authority for disciplinary

action to be taken against him/her. In addition to the above action, the candidate's entire

results shall be withheld, pending cancellation by the appropriate Committee of Council.

(3)

Where a candidate is apprehended for offence(s) such as those listed below inside or outside

the examination hall, the candidate's entire results shall be withheld pending cancellation of

the result of the subject involved by the appropriate Committee of Council.

(a)

Tearing part of the question paper or answer booklet during the examination.

(b)

Refusing to submit script to the supervisor after the examination;

(c)

Starting to write an examination before commencement of work is officially announced OR

continuing to write after official orders have been given for candidates to stop work;

(d)

Other irregular activities within the immediate precincts of the examination hall

before, during or after the examination.

3.

Collusion

(1)

Where a candidate is caught during the examination passing notes for help from other

candidate(s), receiving or giving assistance, talking with or colluding in any manner with

another candidate(s), the entire results of the candidate(s) involved shall be withheld pending

the cancellation of his/her/their result(s') for the subject involved by the appropriate

Committee of Council.

(2)

Where cases of cheating are detected in script(s) and/or otherwise established in one paper,

the results of the subject for the candidate(s) involved shall be cancelled.

Where a candidate is proved to have cheated in more than one paper/subject, his/her results in

those subjects shall be cancelled.

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4.

Impersonation

Where a person is caught impersonating a candidate, he/she shall be handed over to the police

for prosecution. The entire results of the person being impersonated and those of the

impersonator, if he/she is also a candidate for any WAEC examination, shall be withheld,

pending cancellation by the appropriate Committee of Council.

Both the impersonator and the impersonated shall also be barred from taking any examination

conducted by the Council for a period of not less than two years.

"The Council also reserves the right to publish the names of persons so barred."

5.

Leakage

(1)

Where case of leakage is established at a centre, the entire results of the candidates offering

the subject(s) involved at the centre shall be withheld.

(2)

Candidates proved to have been involved in the leakage shall have their entire results

cancelled by the appropriate Committee of Council.

(3)

Where it is established that the school authorities condoned, connived at, and/or encouraged

the leakage, the entire results of the candidates at the centre shall be withheld pending

cancellation of the entire results by the appropriate Committee of Council. In addition, the

school shall be de-recognised in accordance with Rule 6 below.

6.

Mass Cheating

(1)

Where more than half of the candidates for a subject at a centre are involved in collusion or

other forms of examination malpractice, this shall be regarded as mass cheating.

(2)

Where mass cheating in a subject at a centre is established, the entire results of the candidates

at the centre shall be withheld pending cancellation of the results of the subject for those

confirmed to have cheated.

(3)

Where mass cheating has been established the following shall also apply:

(a)

In cases of schools, a report shall be made to the Ministry of Education or the appropriate

Board for disciplinary action to be taken against the person(s) responsible and the school shall

be de-recognised for a period not less than one year.

(b)

In the case of public centres, the Council shall take appropriate action.

(4)

A school shall be de-recognized for a stated period if

(a)

mass cheating is established in more than one paper/subject;

(b)

the appropriate Committee of Council is satisfied that the school cannot ensure the

satisfactory conduct of the Council's examination.

(5)

De-recognition implies that

• Autoren: Dr. Busari Moshood (Autor:in), Oyediran Y.R.A. (Autor:in)
• Erscheinungsjahr: 2017
• Seiten: 19
• Katalognummer: V385699
• ISBN (eBook): 9783668618015
• ISBN (Buch): 9783668618022
• Sprache: Englisch
• Schlagworte: public, awareness, malpractice, examinations, waec, nigeria