Exam malpractices are the termites destroying our education system
What you need to know:
- More professional men and women would run the affairs of this country and the problem of fake academic papers would be a thing of the past.
- World over, the conduct of national examinations is the only surest way to get quality and effective human resources.
The education sector is under increasing pressure to prove its relevancy, provide value and meet the needs of students, and employers, among others.
Discussions on improving the quality of assessment at different levels of education are increasing.
National examinations play a critical role in the current education system in Uganda. It is a culmination of years of educational endeavour and serves as the entrance into higher education by accrediting school leavers with a certificate.
In view of this, it has become a critical concern not only to education planners, learners and educators, but also to parents, employers and all institutions in the education band.
Currently, national examinations are a disaster to parents, students, government and teachers. To an extent, the outcome is not a true reflection of students’ capabilities, going by the number of cancelled results at all levels of results released by Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb).
Cheating in national examinations has become a “contemporary shame”. Students are involved because they want to achieve success, parents want good grades for their children. Teachers seek financial, material and intangible gains derivable from involvement in examination malpractice.
If there is anything I would change to improve examinations process in Uganda, it is the mode of conducting examinations. Just like the open conduct of elections, examinations in Uganda should be done in the open, whereby journalists with their cameras and videos are deployed to cover the process and relay them live on national television or even stream them on the internet.
No candidate involved in an exam malpractice would want to be discovered. The phenomenon of exam malpractice will die a natural death if exposed in public domain/media.
Exam malpractices distort the quality of graduates and this translates into inefficiency. With stringent measures and control systems on the conduct of national examinations, our schools will start breeding honest men and women. More professional men and women would run the affairs of this country and the problem of fake academic papers would be a thing of the past.
World over, the conduct of national examinations is the only surest way to get quality and effective human resources.
Peter Oyoo,
