Curbing exam malpractice

EXAMINATION malpractice refers to any form of cheating before, during and after an examination. Malpractice comes in different forms, such as copying another candidate’s work, copying from prepared answer sheets, colluding with other students to get the right answers to questions, helping another student to write an exam or leaking exam questions. Examination malpractice goes beyond the classroom.

When a student fails to prepare for an examination, there is the likelihood of engaging in malpractices. People always say “he who fails to prepare is prepared to fail.”
One major cause of exam malpractice is poor preparation. There may be reasons for this. Such reasons may include quality of the teacher, lack of study time, especially for students that have a part-time job, and laziness.
No doubt, there is space problem in our tertiary institutions. They cannot offer admission to the increasing populations seeking it. Some students do engage in examination malpractice to get what they want.

There are consequences for examination malpractice when the perpetrators are caught. But when not caught, the culprits may remain lazy and unproductive. They will later hold certificates they can’t defend.
The panaceas to exam malpractice may include higher salaries for teachers to make them immune to inducement by students or parents. Again, trained teachers should be engaged. They should cover the entire syllabus so that their students will be well prepared.

During exams, there should be more supervisors and invigilators. Students should be thoroughly searched before they enter the examination hall. Punishment for those caught and the use of digital cameras to record activities in the examination halls will also be useful.
Looking in these directions may go a long way to curb examination malpractice in our country.