Education and Job Resources Base
Education and Job Resources Base
This is one topic that most people would like to shy away from but most people will agree that the main objectives of education is to equip individuals with the necessary skills required to thrive in an economy to foster growth and development in the society. At all levels of the education institutions, periodic evaluation and assessment are required to ascertain students comprehension and level of understanding.
Examination is the major tool or instrument used in measuring student abilities and knowledge in schools today. Examination malpractice is any act contradicting to the rules set by a school exam or for external exams an exam board. These rules are set so that there will be proper evaluation of students comprehension and competence level.
Examination according to Denga (1983), is the testing of knowledge or ability of an individual in a field of knowledge. Examination, therefore, evaluates the learner in his new field of learning with the intent of rating his or her academic or skill capacities. Examination of any type and at any level is designed and administered with a view to bringing out the real capabilities of the learner without any external aid or fraudulent practice that could distort the exact knowledge in the field of knowledge by the learner being tested. The learner’s performance is graded as means of giving relative quantification of his/her ability.
Examination Ethics is the respect for the rules, regulations, expectations, codes of conduct and moral principles governing the conduct of assessment and evaluation system not only in educational institution but in all sectors of endeavours. It helps students not only to identify their true talents but achieve their destinies. Examination ethics is the heart beat of education without which education stands naked without character and learning (Onyechere, 2005).
The West African Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO) to mention a few are exam bodies set in place to check the standards and curb examination malpractice in Nigeria and Africa but the unfortunate thing is that the exam malpractice has eaten so deep that even some officials of these notable exam bodies indulge in exam malpractice today. Many schools today in Nigeria give in to this menace in an attempt to stay relevant and keep students in their schools during these external examinations.
FORMS OF OFFENCES THAT CAN BE COMMITTED DURING EXAMINATION
Below are some offences punishable by the Nigerian constitution during examination.
A candidate who, at any examination, by any fraudulent trick or device or with intent to cheat or secure an unfair advantage for himself or any other person, steals or otherwise appropriates or takes a question paper, an answer sheet or a script of any other candidate commits, an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of N100,000 or imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years or to both such fine and imprisonment.
A person who obtains any question paper produced or intended for use at any examination of persons, whether or not the question paper in question is proven to be false, not genuine, or without any connection to the examination in question, in anticipation of, before, or throughout any examination by any fraudulent trick or device, in abuse of his office, with intent to unjustly enrich himself or another individual.
Cheating refers to the unauthorized use of data, items, tools, sources, or methods to answer exam questions. For instance, copying is forbidden and is therefore regarded as cheating during an exam that each student should finish independently.
University of Manitoba defines personation as, “the writing of an assignment, lab, test, or examination for another student, or the unauthorized use of another person’s signature or identification in order to impersonate someone else. Personation includes both the personator and the person initiating the personation. Personation is straightforward. If you do something in place of another student, or another student does something in place of you, both of you have committed personation. Other terms for personation include writing a paper or assignment or lab for another student and forging signatures or names on class attendance records.
Those who attempt to cheat or gain an unfair advantage for themselves or another person during an examination by leaving the testing location or any other location designated for the test are guilty of the offense and may be sentenced to a fine of up to N50,000, a term of imprisonment of up to three years, both of these penalties, or both. In addition, they are prohibited from taking future examinations.
A person who is employed to print or charged with the duty of printing live question papers commits an offense if they communicate any information included in any of the question papers to anybody without having the proper authorization and is subject to a five-year prison sentence upon conviction.
A person who behaves improperly in an examination hall or other location designated for an examination, or who disobeys any lawful instruction from the supervisor, invigilator, or agent of the examination body responsible for the conduct of the examination, commits an offense and is subject to a fine of no more than N50,000, a term of imprisonment of no more than three years, or both.
A person who forges or fraudulently or without lawful order, alters or in any other way tampers with, the scores of a candidate as contained on a result slip or certificate duly issued by an examination body, commits an offence.
A person who wilfully obstructs a supervisor, an invigilator or agent of the examination body concerned with the conduct of the examination or any other person in the performance of his duty at the examination, commits an offence and is liable on conviction
A person who conspires with, aids, abets, or counsels any other person to commit an offence or attempts to commit an offence or is an accessory before or after the fact to an act or omission which constitutes an offence or incites, procures or induces any other person by any means whatsoever to commit an offence, under this Act, commits the offence and is liable on conviction to the same punishment as is prescribed for that offence under this Act.
