NECO Declares War On Exam Malpractice, Reveals Measures To Curb Menace

NECO said it will deploy officials of the Department of State Services and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to examination centers.

 

The National Examinations Council, NECO, has stated that it is prepared to completely eliminate instances of exam malpractice from all of its examinations.

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Newsonline reports that the council said it will check the menace by deploying officials of the Department of State Services and Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps to examination centers.

It also called for concerted efforts to address the problem.

This was announced by the Registrar and Chief Executive of NECO, Professor Ibrahim Dantani Wushishi, on Monday at a one-day sensitization workshop on examination malpractice in Uyo, Akwa Ibom State. He called for coordinated efforts to address the issue.

Speaking on the theme of the workshop,’ The Role of Education Stakeholders in Tackling Examination Malpractice in Nigeria,’ Professor Wushishi said there is an urgent need to curtail the problem to ensure the all-round development of the country.

“One of the biggest challenges bedeviling the conduct of public examinations now is the issue of examination malpractice.

“This workshop is therefore both thoughtful and timely, and should address the ways and means that can be adopted to curb the menace and re-orient the minds of the youths concerning this cankerworm, as no nation develops when its youths indulge in sharp practices such as examination malpractice.

 

“No doubt, examination malpractice has the tendency to discourage hard work among serious students, lowers educational standards, discredit certificates, and lead to the production of quacks, thereby affecting the manpower needs of the nation.

“We must therefore take collective responsibility to rid them of this bad habit of wanting to cut corners,” he said.

Speaking further, the NECO boss said the Council had rolled out several measures to check the problem of malpractice in the conduct of all its examinations.

He listed the measures to include; “Effective conduct of accreditation and re-accreditation exercise in schools, biometric data capturing of candidates to check impersonation of candidates registered for examination and to help identify ‘miracle centres’ where examination malpractice are perpetrated.

 

“Others are use of officers of the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps to provide security at examination centres to prevent miscreants/agents of examination malpractice, provision of covert operations by officers of the Department of State Services to guide against compromising examination through the internet, daily distribution of examination question papers and other sensitive materials, monitoring of marking exercise to ensure that best practices are observed, among others.

Also quoted in the statement, the Minister of State for Education, Goodluck Opiah, lauded the council for organising the workshop, even as he described it as a right step in the right direction.

While saying exam malpractice was a major threat to the aim of education, the minister said the workshop would create the desired awareness to eliminate the menace.

“Examination is a form of assessing the learners’ understanding, knowledge, ability and general comprehension of what they have been taught.