My heart bleeds my jaw drops and I am transfixes with horror like a statue in the middle of an ever-flowing stream whenever I imagine how examination candidates perpetuate examination malpractices. This is a sad development more so these perpetrators, aiders and abettors eat vulture with impunity. The government officials in the educational sector sit by as if they were sightless. This is sorry case. It Is a pain in the neck.
For know exam is the only index of proficiency to measure the standard of academic level of a candidate. Though this may be inadequate, it is still the surest way to access the student academic prowess.
Sadly, the centrifugal force has made the country to fade in the academic circle. Developed and international communities have tagged our graduates as half-baked thus making our certificates worthless.
Why is this so? Why is our academic level on the leeward trend? How many culprits are languishing in jail in for exam malpractice? Why are our doctors butchers instead of surgeons?
It is an attempt to answer these questions that the Nigerian case is like a riddle wrapped in enigma. Parents and teachers “co-operate “ to ensure the success of these candidates. At the higher-level students buy mouth-watering gifts for lecturers to pass their courses. Female undergraduates resort to sleeping with their stone faced lecturers to avoid the big stick if the fail to dance to their rhythm. Some male students who are in low waters sneak in answers scribbled on pieces of paper into the exam halls. Impersonation has become the order of the day. Examination officials are worse. They organize question-solving groups to help students pass their examination in flying colors. All these will result into the acute cheating for the brilliant ones. Meritocracy has been sacrificed at the altar of corruption. There is revulsion of hard work. Thus the hard workers are in the abyss of frustration since their hard work is not given any expression. In the end brain drain will come in and our brightest will travel abroad to seek greener pastures/
For Nigeria to regain her academic glory, those that whiter than white should be employed as examination officials. Jumbo pay should be their lot. Above all sword of Damocles should hand on offenders by bringing them to book. Any culprit should face the music, as a deterrent to would be –culprit. Teachers should be paid ‘take home pay that can take them home’. They are disillusioned and disenchanted. Without out mincing words the government of the day is the cause of the downfall of education in Nigeria they are; unfair as regards the way they treat the Nigerian teachers especially the university lecturers. If all these are done, Nigeria will not only be revered academically, but will also avoid the ricochet of cataclysms cropping up from this ugly monster. Or what could you say about a graduate that has a B.Sc in economics and cannot differentiate between “needs” and “demand”? What of a graduate of English language that cannot pronounce “sociology”? That is why Nigeria formerly a giant is now a dwarf in the sphere of education, inter-alia. Or do we call her a giant –dwarf? If nothing is done to redeem our academic image internationally, then we Nigerians are headed towards disaster.
