Examination Misconducts: a Threat to Academic and National Development

Abstract

The qualitative merit of examination or test-taking for diagnostic, evaluation, placement and quality control is usually measured in terms of its appropriateness and the quality assurance of its outcomes. Consequently, it becomes inevitable that for any examination to be credible, it must possess key elements which are validity and reliability. These key elements can only be present if examination is free and fair, devoid of cheating and all sorts of malpractices. This presupposes that examination conduct must be guided by a set of rules and ethical standards. The examination misconducts is perpetrated by a number of stakeholders ranging from parents or guardians who buy papers or bribe examiners/invigilators, educators who collect money and turn a blind eye, lazy students who do not take their studies serious and still desire to get the best score, the examiners who set and mark the papers, typists of the questions papers, printers who supervise printing arrangements or transport printed questions, supervisors who supervise the conduct of the examinations, invigilators at the centers/halls, proprietors are all guilty of various examination misconducts. Societal misfits, low standard of education, unsustainable education and community, unproductive societies, Insularity of Nigeria school systems from the global academic world and others are the results of examination misconducts