Technology, Only Way to End Malpractices, Minister Tells NECO, Others

Kuni  Tyessi in Abuja

Minister of Education, Mallam Adamu Adamu, has called on examination and assessment bodies in the country to deploy Information and Communication Technology (ICT) mechanisms to end the menace of exam malpractices.

Adamu made the call in Lagos while declaring open a one-day National Sensitisation Workshop on Malpractice in Nigeria jointly organised by the National Examinations Council NECO and the National Assembly with the theme: ‘Role of Education Stakeholders In Tackling Examination Malpractice in Nigeria’.

Represented by the Registrar, Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the minister said Nigeria was still far from overcoming issues of examination malpractices.

“Examination malpractices is a major problem affecting the conduct of public exams in Nigeria and let me say that Nigeria is underdeveloped in tackling issues of malpractices in our exams.

“ICT is the way to go in curbing this menace. It has become most critical that we must adopt and become creative in adopting ICT devices to protect the sanctity of our examinations across Nigeria,” the minister said.

On his part, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Education, Andrew Adejo, in a keynote address, called on the National Assembly to enact laws for sanctions on consequent actions.

According to him, complexities arise following the loss of core values in the Nigerian society, “because we have forgotten our value system, they have collapsed and until we fix this it may take a long time before the system recovers we should look at the ways of correcting our value system.”

He suggested that the culprit of examination malpractices must be made to face the law and advocated for a conducive learning environment.

Also, he called on the government to prosecute offenders of examination malpractices while legislators enact laws that would stop the trend.

Deputy Chairman Senate Committee on Education , Senator Akon Eyakenyi, said the National Assembly frowns at examination malpractice and it hopes to tackle it with a holistic mind.

“The Committees on Education (Basic and Secondary) is using this opportunity to appeal to stakeholders, particularly to the parents and teachers of the students to sensitise themselves to ensure the spirit of examination malpractice is thoroughly purged out from their lifestyle before sensitising their children, wards or students as they are “In pari delicto” (equally at fault) by aiding and abetting these students, ” she said.

Senator Eyakenyi said to effectively tackle examination malpractices, there is a need for operators to collaborate with professional associations who wield certain levels of influence on their members.

She called on the government to hold private school operators to account while further challenging stakeholders to rise to the task of speaking out and taking informed decisions when and where needs arise.

“The media community should particularly lend its support to this patriotic fight. It is also my thinking that Monitoring and Evaluation should be taken seriously across board in the education sector. Supervision of both our learners and educators at all levels should be stepped up” She added.

Also speaking at the event, Chairman House of Representatives Committee on Education (Basic and Secondary), Prof. Julius Ihonbere, called for collective responsibility to tackle problems of examination malpractices.

According to him, stakeholders must work together to produce results that will work for the betterment of the Nigerian education sector.

He acknowledged the efforts of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) in fighting malpractices in public examinations.

“Unless the nation addresses the issue of infraction in public exams the nation may not move forward. It is a criminal offence but it is disappointing that children are no longer afraid because for their participation in examination malpractices there are no longer sanctions.”

Earlier in his welcome address, the Registrar of the National Examinations Council (NECO), Prof. Dantani Ibrahim Wushishi, noted that the major challenge facing conduct of public examinations remains issues of examination malpractices.

He also said that the workshop was jointly organised with the National Assembly to address issues of exam malpractices.

Wushishi added that it is to find ways and means that can be adopted to curb the menace and re-orient the minds of the youths concerning the cankerworm.

“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.

He called for collective responsibility to rid them of the bad habit of wanting to cut corners.

On his part, Head of West African Examination Council (WAEC) Nigeria, Patrick Areghan, represented by Dr. Amos Dani, commended NECO for advancing assessment to a greater level.

He applauded the role of the National Assembly in tackling the examination malpractices menace.

Areghan disclosed that WAEC has begun the deployment of technology in the fight against exam infractions.

“WAEC has developed a technology called IDP to detect collisions in the objectives segment of our exams. Other technologies are being currently developed to tackle malpractices in our essay papers.”