Exam Malpractices:Onyechere Wants FG, Other Stakeholders To Take Action

The Chairman, Exam Ethics International, Mr Ike Onyechere has called on the federal government and other stakeholders to take decisive action to stamp out exam malpractices in the country.

Onyechere made the call in an interview with newsmen Sunday in Abuja. He alleged that the special examination centres being operated by private schools were engaged in exam malpractices and that they make as much as N25 million from one exam alone. Onyechere said that all attempts to stop them had proved abortive, adding “there has to be a very strong will by the government to stop this thing’’. “It is not going to be an easy task, but it is possible,” he added.  Onyechere claimed that some of the centres collect money from “unwilling candidates to commit the fraud’’.

He said that parents, teachers and principals were involved in the malpractice and that students were often compelled into it by the centres.  “By the time the federal government takes action, the Federal Ministry of Education takes action, the National Assembly Committees on Education take action, no person will get involved in exam malpractice,” he said.

Onyechere said that Ghana was able to rid itself of the ill when in 2009 it made public names and pictures of those involved in exam malpractices.

“When some quarters began to criticise the action, the whole leadership threw its weight behind it, and today exam malpractices in Ghana are a thing of the pass,” the Chairman said.

Onyechere lashed out at those who see “the system” as being responsible for corrupt practices, adding: “why are we always hiding behind the system, why must we always criminalise our society?

He said that the campaigns carried out by the Exam Ethics had begun to yield results, “as people are beginning to see the harm exam malpractice was doing to the country’s educational system’’.

Onyechere noted that some faith-based organisations had joined in the fight against the practice by showing their support during the exam ethics week his organisation organised recently.