Let’s eliminate examination malpractices
The West African Examinations Council (WAEC) has released the results of the 2016 Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE), with the announcement that results of candidates from 321 schools have been withheld pending the conclusion of investigations into alleged examination malpractices.
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Also, individual candidates from 1,025 schools who were identified to have cheated have had their relevant subject results cancelled.
It appears that in the last couple of years, the release of examination results by WAEC is always associated with reports of cheating, with no year passing without this canker.
While examinations may not be the best way of assessing students, they are what we have settled on as the formal means to, among others, test a person’s proficiency in a subject or skill and tell the talent of a particular person.
Examinations too ascertain how much knowledge our students have gained from an area of study, so that we can place talented persons in various fields of discipline.
For these reasons, the Daily Graphic is of the opinion that society should be alarmed about the effects of examination malpractice on the individual, the family and society in general.
Reports show that some parents and even school authorities are deeply involved in this social menace, as they go to every length to get leaked papers for their children and students for them to pass, by hook or crook.
This situation stems from the enormous emphasis we place on certificates and academics, at the expense of skills development.
The practice can lead to half-baked intellectuals and professionals who cannot carry the serious task of development on their shoulders, and this can consequently cause serious dislocations in the socio-economic life of the country.
It also teaches children how to cultivate the evil habit of cheating at tender ages. This brings about loose morals and values and as a nation we need to take a serious look at the problem and find ways of nipping it in the bud.
We should move away from the rhetoric of strengthening vocational education and practically ensure that candidates who are not gifted academically can chart a career path in vocational and technical skills.
We urge WAEC to engage supervisors and invigilators of proven integrity who will see anything given them to influence them to compromise their values as too paltry. Remuneration for examiners should also be attractive enough to encourage them to put in their best to safeguard the credibility of examinations.
Further, religious and faith-based organisations should use their platforms to educate their congregants and adherents on the serious consequences of the practice.
All hands must be on deck to rid society of this canker because a society with fraudulent and corrupt future leaders is as bad as a country whose resources have been set ablaze.
