The National Examinations Council, NECO has vowed that schools found guilty of examination malpractices will be delisted for two years.
At a roundtable discussion in Lagos, stakeholders discussed ways to find lasting solution to the menace of examination malpractices in Nigeria.
Speaking on Thursday in Lagos, at a one-day National Sensitisation Workshop, titled, ‘Roles of education stakeholders in tackling examination malpractice,’ registrar, NECO, Prof. Ibrahim Wushishi, advised school owners, students, parents, and other stakeholders to desist from examination malpractice, saying it had a lot of negativity on the country’s education system.
The workshop was organised by NECO in partnership with the National Assembly.
Wushishi said, ‘‘The simple advice is that they should desist from it. As an examination body, we will not fail to sanction the schools. At the end of any examination any school that we find wanting, we will delist the school for two years from taking our examinations.”
He maintained that Nigeria would make progress if examination malpractice was reduced to the barest.
‘‘If we want this country to flourish then examination malpractices must be reduced to the barest minimum. We must have zero tolerance for examination malpractice because it affects the systems. This is the purpose of this sensitisation.’’
He also lamented that the existing laws on examination malpractices were not usually being implemented.
Permanent Secretary, the Federal Ministry Of Education, Mr Andrew Adejo, also maintained that culprits of examination malpractice should be made to face the law to serve as deterrence.
He suggested that ‘‘No one should be spared both the low and the mighty should go to jail if found guilty.
School administrators must ensure adequate coverage of the syllabus for all subjects before the commencement of external examinations.
‘‘Good parental upbringing. Parents should up-scale their moral and value system and encourage their children to study hard for examinations.’’
In his own opinion, Chair, House Committee on Basic Education, Prof. Julius Ihonrbere, advised that ‘‘We should prosecute them maximally. N400,000, N500,000 fine that’s a chicken fee. Minimum of N4 to N5 million if you’re caught cheating, then you go to prison. More than 50,000 engage in exam malpractices every year in all the exams they take. How many have been arrested? So it’s not enough to cancel the results. Prosecute them; punish them, then the parents will warn their children at home to do the right thing.’’
