CAUSES AND EFFECTS OF EXAMINATION MALPRACTICE IN INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING IN NIGERIA
CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
The Hyperdictionary (2009) defined examination as the act of giving students a test (as by questions) to determine what they know or have learned. Similarly, citing Kpangban, Ajaja & Umedhe (2008) defined examination as an assessment intended to measure knowledge, skill, attitude, physical fitness or classification in many other topics such as beliefs. Examination could also be seen as one of the most objective techniques used in the measurement of learning outcomes at all levels of education in Nigeria and the world over. In another vein, examination was defined in the website www.worrells.net.au/content/factsh as the process of an external administrator formally examining various parties, students or candidates. Examination may be administered orally, on paper, on computer or in a confined area that requires an examinee to physically perform a set of skills. However, despite the importance of examination in teaching and learning situations, a number of factors affect the credibility of examination scores. One of such practices that may affect the reliability of examination scores is examination malpractice. 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 by 13 candidates 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 walkman and mobile phones are also used to carry out examination malpractices. Annually, examination bodies give stern 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, swapping of scripts in an examination hall, impersonation, smuggling scripts written outside into the examination hall, writing on handkerchief/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, leakage, relaxation of vigilance by invigilators, talking, dictation of answers to students, e.t.c. Examination malpractices in Nigeria are successfully perpetrated with the active connivance of students, parents, school authorities, government functionaries, invigilators and sometimes officials of such examination bodies as Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board, (JAMB); The West African Examinations Council, (WAEC); National Examinations Council, (NECO); National Business and Technical Examinations Board, (NABTEB); and National Teachers’ Institute, (NTI). Consequently, examination malpractice is perpetrated for different reasons and it affects the credibility of results in the sense that grades are assigned to candidates wrongly thereby misleading the teacher and other users of the school products in decision making. Denga, (1981) stated that the different factors responsible for examination malpractices could be categorized into three; namely: Psychological, Environment and Intelligence. Psychological factors have to do with all the stress that is often induced by parents, peer pressure groups and students because of an examination. In the same vain, psychological trauma of failure or scoring low grades promotes candidates involvement in examination malpractice. Environmental factors refer to the crowded nature of classrooms and examination halls with few invigilators during examination. Obsolete, obscure and inadequate instructional materials can lure candidates to perpetrate examination malpractice. On the other hand, intelligence quotient IQ vary among individuals; often academically weak candidates try to compare themselves with naturally gifted candidates. When the weak students are not able to meet up with the challenges, they resort to seeking external help to pass their examinations. In view of the fact that examination malpractice continues to occur in different forms and levels, there is the need to determine innovative strategies for curbing the ill practice.