The rate at which the nation’s universities produce graduates who cannot defend their certificates has become a serious issue which needs to be addressed.
It is no news that the country’s educational system has been suffering from examination malpractices for a long time. It is often said that Nigerian certificates are worthless and no more valuable than the paper they are printed on.
Bayero University, Kano (BUK) is not excluded from this worrisome issue as there have been situations when students have been caught involving themselves in examination misconduct. This seems to be increasing, as the 2017/2018 session recorded a total of 33 students expelled, 12 to repeat a session, 70 were issued warnings, two were exonerated and another two were deferred for further investigation.
This leads to the rise of some very important questions such as; what are the main reasons students cheat? How does it affect the lives of the students? What are the steps to take in order to stop examination malpractice?
Examination malpractice is any form of cheating before, during or after an examination.
“Students are now becoming lazy,” Dr. Ashir Inuwa, a lecturer at the BUK’s Faculty of Communication, said in an interview when asked about the reasons for cheating in examinations.
According to him, one of the leading causes in examination malpractice is lack of self confidence. Other reasons include; large population of students, lack of time to cover the curriculum, pressure from family members and bribery paid to pass a course!
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Involvement in any form of examination misconduct endangers the students’ stay in the university. BUK for instance, has an organized Senate Committee whose sole purpose is to dully assess all cases of exam malpractice and ensure that appropriate measures are taken.
Dr. Inuwa further advised students to pay attention to lectures, study hard and spoke against sitting with friends during an examination, going to the venue with complicating items such as cell-phones or pieces of papers, guard one’s work at all cost and to always be at the examination venue on time.
He then advised students to obtain the schools’ ‘student handbook,’ which is a manual with detailed information of the university’s rules and regulations which they are expected to follow.
Believably, the above are among the reasons why the students cheat in examination not only at BUK, but other institutions of learning in the nation and even beyond.
The students should have self confidence and read very hard to attaining it. They should also be attentive in classes with a view to inculcating a listening habit to lectures. They should also ask questions in classes if any thing is not understood as most teachers have patience to explain or respond to such questions for better understanding of the topic.
The students should also try to love the subjects and their teachers or lecturers so that they will understand such subjects very well. Ask question(s) no matter how difficult a lecturer seems to appear, it will lead to better understanding and consequently it will lead to self confidence and prevent examination malpractice.
