Introduction to Examination Malpractice and the Causes - Oluwatimilehin

It is painful to hear that there is increase in examination malpractice by students from different parts of the world.
Examination malpractice is the illegal action that students take during their examinations in struggle to make good grades through cut-corners. It can also be defined as cheating by students in Their examination halls.

The question is: what are the causes of these malpractices
among the students?

Do they indulge in such act because they like doing it?
What makes students to indulge in examination malpractices as if they cannot do without it?

Examination malpractice have done a lot of harm to students as many of them have neglected their books with the hope of "performing the magic" they used to perform in every examination. It is rampant in secondary schools, colleges,
polytechnics and universities.

In certain countries, it is no longer a new thing as those who are to fight the bad practice stand as the promoters.
Many students indulge in such practice because they want to achieve
academic excellence .

™The Causes of Examination Malpractice™

There is always cause to any action taken by any person; be it legal or illegal action.
Students do not engage themselves in examination malpractices just because they want to
do it; rather there are things that lead them to such illegal actions. It has eaten deep into the blood of lazy students and they think that nothing can stop them from playing such "game". The causes of examination malpractices among students include laziness,
lecturers and teachers weaknesses, weak parental functions, personal influence,
supervisors' weakness, lack of self confidence and government failure.
Laziness: This is a menace which many students suffer from. Any student that gets
infected by this disease hardly recovers on time. According to definition of the word, lazy,from Concise Oxford Dictionary, it is unwillingness to work or use energy. Many students do not want to work hard through studying of their books to make their parents and sponsors proud by graduating with good results. They think that making good results is a bed of roses. That is why they want to pass their examinations through cut-corners,
thereby getting involved in examination malpractices. It is one of the major challenges in Nigeria and other countries when it comes to students.
Some students are lazy and drive joy in doing what their parents did not sent them to
schools to start doing. They devote most of their time in having fun with their fellow lazy ones and neglect the basic thing, which is their study. Some students forget that education is important to every nation and that was why the parents sent them. They can watch many kinds of films in a day without even having time to look into their books and acquire skills through their study. What of attending parties in many hostels?
To attend any party any student wishes is not bad but becomes problem when the student forgets his main functions to perform which is studying. Party is part of students' life but it happens that the lazy ones "sign it as a contract". That they do not attend any party in the school premises is either because they did not hear about it or because they travelled.

Lazy students should wake up from their slumber to avoid being involved in examination malpractices. Examination malpractices due to laziness pay no other thing but downfall and disaster to those students that indulge in it.
Lecturers and teachers weaknesses: It is a sign of irresponsibility to hear that some
lecturers and teachers in many parts of the world is one of the causes of examination
malpractice by their students. The weakness among lecturers is one of the major problems of education sector of Africa . What do the lecturers want the students to write on examination day when they were not thought well? Lecturers are one of the causes of examination malpractices. Education sector of Africa and that of other developing and underdeveloped nations have been facing this problem.
Lecturers do not finish most of the course outlines they have for an academic semester before giving examinations to the students. In some cases, the lecturers even go to the extent of giving examinations to the students even in the areas they did not teach the students for that academic year. Tell me how students will achieve academic excellence in that situation. As a result of this, students are propelled to make their excellent grades either by hook or by crook. The wicked lecturers who do such things at times take the
action for the students to fail because many of them do not like the success of their fellow human being.
What teaching method do some lecturers or teachers apply when teaching the students in
their individual campuses? Do the students really comprehend with such teaching method?
Are the teachers qualified to teach the students in their individual level? Some teachers do
not deserve to be called teachers because they do not look into the method they use in
teaching students in their classes. Some adopt old system of teaching which is out of
fashion and is not meant to be applied in this new world. Any that knows what he or she is doing should look into the students to discover if they understand the method of his teaching. If the students do not comprehend with such method, he has to apply another method. It is his function to do so because the students paid for their fees, so he is not offering the service free of charge.

Many teachers that take care of the students in various schools are not qualified. They did not have good skill acquisition on teaching jobs. Some of them do not even have good teaching tips. This is the reason that make some students who could not work extra hard to engage in examination malpractices during examinations. What will an unqualified lecturer offer to undergraduate students in universities? He or she cannot teach his or herself not to talk more of teaching such level of students. Unqualified teachers give weak and unqualified services. Students cannot do well with such services and this makes them to look for something to make it up in order to make it in their examinations.

This results to engaging in examination malpractice which can take the form of smuggling in their notebooks and textbooks into the examination halls.

Weak parental functions: It is shameful that some parents do not perform their functions as true parents. Some primary school students are not really being taken good care of by their parents. Some parents do not encourage their children to work hard and make it on their own when called for examinations in their schools. Some parents are careless of the importance of education to nations. This makes the students to feel reluctant and do not take their studies serious. Such children grow with this habit and carry it into their higher institutions if they make their ways into them. When they get to the institutions and see that things are not easy over there, their next alternative is to indulge in examination malpractice.

Again, some parents do not take good care of their students in terms of sponsoring them financially. They do not give them balanced financial support in their individual institutions.

When students are not given the money to buy textbooks for their study, they will not be balanced to enter into examination halls and write their exams. The female students engage in immoral activities in order to make money for their academic thereby neglecting their book because they are always going about offering "back on the ground services" to the young and old men around the campus. This results to malpractice because they do not have time for their books because they were in search of money. Many are willing to achieve academic excellent but are constrained by certain factors.

Single parenthood is another factor that contributes to examination malpractices in many schools worldwide. Because the students are being trained by single parent, they may engage in other activities to make more money and support they learning. Because of the fact that they have divided attention, they do not have enough time to study their books properly.

√ Personal influence: In some countries where corruption is the order of the day, all students are not given equal treatment. Students who are born by the notable men in the country are favoured or allowed to do as they wish-one of the challenges in Nigeria and countries with corrupt education. The daughter of the governor of that state can enter examination hall with "white paper" without being shun by the examination supervisor. She is allowed to
indulge in that bad act because she is the daughter of the governor of the state. But in
countries where nobody is above the Law, no student of any kind is allowed to indulge in such act irrespective of who your parents are in the society.

√ Lack of self confidence: Many setbacks that people are having in this present world are because of lack of confidence. In the same angle, students' engagement in examination malpractice can be traced back to lack of confidence also. Self confidence in this context is when a student believes and has faith that he will make it in examinations without being involved in any malpractice of any form. Many students get involved in malpractice during examinations because they doubt that they can't make excellent result after examination without having "microchip" attached to their body.

A true student should have faith that he or she will make it in any examination having
studied for a long time in preparation for the examination. At times, friends are the people that mislead the other to lose faith in what they are capable of doing. A student may be preparing for examination with the hope to write the exam alone and make it alone as a serious minded student. A friend of his who drives joy in malpractice may come in and weaken his faith with words of mouth. He can enter the room of the serious-minded student and began to ask him saying: do you think you can make this examination without cheating in the exam? The serious student may answer yes in the initial stage but change his mind later. The "bad student" can deceive the serious one by giving him series of reasons why he cannot make it without cheating during the exam.
When he finally convinces and confuses the serious student, he succumbs to the decisive advice.

√ Supervisors' weakness : It is discouraging to hear that examination supervisors who are to prevent malpractices in examination halls are now the promoters of such bad thing. It is not new to hear that in some African countries like Nigeria that supervisors encourage malpractices in examination by collecting bribes from students or the candidates that came for examinations. It is a big problem with education sector of Africa. They also collect bribe from impersonators who came to write examinations for other candidates. These promoters of bad actions in some cases smuggle out question papers from the halls, get people to solve the questions, and distribute the answers to the exam candidates and collect money in return.

This is usually experienced in the country during examination that grants access to
students who want admission into tertiary institutions, University Matriculation
Examinations (UME). This impure means of securing marks to be admitted into universities or polytechnics makes the students to start messing up in their individual departments when they become finally admitted. It is one of the main reasons why many Nigerian graduates cannot defend themselves.

The bad side of this form of malpractice is that those who want to prove that they do not want to engage in malpractice to secure admission into any tertiary institution in the country are being eliminated in admissions because of those that made their marks through "cut-corners". In other word, examination is no longer the true test of knowledge in countries whose examination supervisors are corrupt.

√ Government failure: This point houses a lot of things. The government has accusing finger pointing on them when it comes to a case like this. They do not pay good and concrete attention to the students in their countries, though this is exceptional in few countries.

The truth remains that the number of governments that fail in their duties are more.
How equipped are the laboratories and mechanical workshops used by the technical
students?

There should be practical youth empowerment among youth in tertiary
institutions for easy understanding. It is important to maintain safety precautions in the workshops during the practical to avoid accidents or injuries. Having these things put in place helps the students to comprehend what they are taught in their individual schools.

The heads of many countries overlook their education sector. If the necessary things are put in order by the governments and practical are conducted for the students, they will easily comprehend and put down their important points during their examinations. But a case where government do not provide these things, the students find it difficult to comprehend very well and this pushes them into malpractice.

The government do not provide or send strong supervisors to various examinations
conducted in many countries. This makes the students to easily enter examination halls with "microchips" because they know that nobody will give them tough time. If the governments are serious in fighting malpractices of any form during examinations, they should find it as their duty to send strong invigilators during examinations in various schools across the country.

The kind of teachers and lecturers that the government employs in many schools and
universities is also another cause of examination malpractice. They, the government, do not employ qualified teachers to teach the students. This pushes students to be part of malpractice because they are not taught properly by their teachers and lecturers.

What of implementation of the punishment to anyone who is found guilty of any examination malpractice ?
No matter the class of offence committed, the offender is to face the music.

This policy or Law is passed out in some countries without any implementation.
Government should be serious and punish any student that does anything against the law when it comes to malpractice. This punishment will make others to learn their lesson and stop such act.

√ Conclusion √√√√√√√

Students engage in examination malpractice thinking that they are smart without knowing they are harming themselves.
Of what importance will it be to a student who cannot defend the certificate he acquired from where he studied ?

We must fight examination malpractice together.

This topic stressed on the causes of examination malpractice among students.

Some of the causes as discussed are: laziness, lecturers and teachers weaknesses, weak parental functions, personal influence, supervisors' weakness, lack of self confidence and government failure.

                                                                             Special thanks to Mr. Uzochukwu Mike of uzochukwumike_hubpages-com for a well Illurstrated Points and Full support of this Article, I remain my very self Bamigboye Oluwatimilehin . Stay Lifted Readers