Examination malpractice has consequences on social value

In recent times, there has been a lot of jubilations in the country among students who did O-Level examinations in 2017. All newspapers reported the schools and students that excelled countrywide. More than 4,500 students were left in limbo regarding their results. Most of the failures came from upcountry schools and it is difficult to tell whether upcountry students truly failed or they have not yet learnt the skills of cheating.
The increasing examination malpractices in Uganda remain a painful scandal that the State should address. Examination malpractice is a kind of theft and it destroys our young generation, turning them into cheats at all levels of their lives. A nation cannot survive on academic corruption.
A cheater is not a good person, he/she is a liar. To lie is to violate a neighbour’s right to truth – a distortion of truth. Cheaters master the skills of cheating without actually acquiring knowledge and skills measured by the test.
The objective of examination is to find out the extent to which students understood what they have been taught and, therefore, grade them in order of merit. No student should get preferential treatment or undue advantage over others.
These developments pose a danger to the nation. Such cheats will continue with that habit and we end up with incompetent medical doctors, engineers, pharmacists, etc. The culture of cheating by students will continue in all spheres of their life. The malpractice has become a booming racket in the country because of laxity. Those involved should be arrested and given deterrent punishment.
Religion today is in decline because people find that it does not work and only things of the earth work. Things that work and solve problems instantly are wars, lying, cheating, stealing, corruption, greed, etc.
So, the absence of moral and religious instructions, has given rise to low moral standards in society, which I think is largely responsible for cheating during examinations. Due to low moral standard in society, decay has set in and hard work is not regarded as important any more nowadays.
The youth read newspapers and they see lack of exemplary leadership. Some leaders in society achieve leadership in improper manner, some leaders embezzle money and students take it as normal. Leaders who get into positions of authority fraudulently send wrong signal to the youth, who do the same by engaging in examination malpractices.
Key players in the examination malpractices include parents, teachers, principals, examiners, invigilators, security agents and perhaps Uneb itself. Parents could be providing funds for buying exam papers, paying impersonators writing the examinations and for compromising invigilators, etc.
Principals may also bribe invigilators and teachers will spy, be bribed, etc. For the success of the examination malpractice racket to succeed, there should be a lot of networking at various levels within the Ministry of Education.
Many Ugandans who do not academically qualify to vie for certain employment positions have gone back to school. Last week, a local newspapers observed that ‘Many adult learners encounter challenges finding time to attend lectures in order to match full time students. Their busy schedules at work, family and public responsibilities render them easy culprit to cheating scheme.”
Uganda did not experience this magnitude of examination malpractice in the 1960s and 1970s because many schools were mostly managed by churches and discipline was a must.
The State cannot give both spiritual and material education. The measure taken by government to create management committees consisting of founding body members is inadequate. These committees meet twice or so a term and that cannot handle day-to-day spiritual matters in schools. They meet to discuss general developmental issues and finances.
Perhaps it would be helpful to have priests or nuns as head teachers to run schools so as to achieve the missionary objective of developing a holistic person (body and soul). This might bring discipline in schools where we see teachers defile pupils they are supposed to protect.
A school is the heart of any nation: Destroy it and you will have destroyed the nation.

Dr Okoth is a concerned citizen
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