By Alusine Fullah
A lecturer in a South African University wrote an expressive message to his students at the doctorate, masters and bachelors’ level and placed it at the entrance of the college. I believe that it resonates with us everywhere. More often than not we are not mindful of how the things we consider to be little could destroy our society.
He wrote, “Collapsing any Nation does not require use of Atomic bombs or the use of Long-range missiles. But it requires lowering the quality of Education and allowing cheating in the exams by the students. The patient dies in the hands of the doctor who passed his exams through cheating. And the buildings collapse in the hands of an engineer who passed his exams through cheating.
And the money is lost in the hands of an accountant who passed his exams through cheating. And humanity dies in the hands of a religious scholar who passed his exams through cheating. And justice is lost in the hands of a judge who passed his exams through cheating. And ignorance is rampant in the minds of children who are under the care of a teacher who passed exams through cheating. The collapse of education is the collapse of the Nation”
I stood stationary when I heard them (West African Senior Secondary Certificate Education pupils) say: “TO PASS WASSCE JUST HAVE YOUR SMART PHONE AND NL3000.” They never knew I am an invigilator. I was very curious from their conversation. Yes, I was all ears. As I approached them for more information, one of them (fair in complexion) got noticed that I might be one of the supervisors from WAEC or from the Ministry of Basic and Senior Secondary School. I took five feet distance away from them. Since they had notified that I was very interested in their conversation they had to leave the scene and they said: “Let us go to our classes…this guy is too inquisitive and nosy to our discussion…”
After few minutes, the exams started. I could still remember them. One of them stood boldly and said: “Mr. Invigilator watin now…this na we future ooo so tell we how much we for pack for you…” I did not say a word!! After few minutes, I asked to stand for me to search them properly whether they have phones or foreign materials. Surprisingly, I found out that each and every one of them had a phone. Wow!! My Goodness!!! I was opened-mouth. The subject they had was Business Management (BM). I asked myself with such practice how these pupils can manage their businesses tomorrow.
Indeed, they tried very hard to convince and persuade me so that they could engage in the malpractice. Yes, they applied all methods. I refused!
Yes, people say seeing is believing. Indeed, in some cases if you don’t see it you won’t believe it. Having served as an invigilator for the past five years to date, it really gives me the urge to always alert the concerned authorities (especially WACE) about the rampant examination malpractice in Sierra Leone. What I saw has sent a message that the educational system in this country is still at stake. When I invigilated last year, I thought this year there will be a vast change. But guess what, the situation of examination malpractice remains worst.
History tells us that Sierra Leone was once called the ‘Athens of West Africa’, a title she earned from her distinguished and globally recognized academic performance. This country still carries the credit of producing prominent and universally accredited academics such as, Davidson Sylvester Hector Willoughby Nicol, Dr John Albert Musselman Karefa-Smart, Professor Eldred Durosimi Jones, Professor Joe A. D. Alie, and Dr James Jonah, to name a few.
Examination malpractice is becoming a norm and culture in most countries including Sierra Leone. Examination malpractice is experience in almost all examinations at every level of education. The West African Examination Council (WAEC), the institution responsible for conducting external examinations at the pre-tertiary level in Ghana, report cases of examination malpractice almost every examination year. School based examinations at both the pre-tertiary and the tertiary levels also experience cases of malpractice. According to Buah, examination malpractice is undoubtedly a canker in the educational system of Ghana and examination malpractices happen everywhere in the world irrespective of their kinds or nature. This is because students, teachers, parents, security personnel and the examination bodies are reluctant to change their minds and attitudes towards examinations. It is important to note that examination malpractices are not only limited to Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) and West African Senior Secondary Certificate Education (WASSCE) candidates alone, but also there have been reported cases at the tertiary level across the country.
Nowadays, our educational system has taken a u-turn as standards have dramatically declined from hero to zero, from grace to grass, evidenced by the perpetual mass failure of pupils in BECE, WASCE and other public examinations. Sierra Leone’s progressively retrogressive educational standard tempts me to believe that she is no longer the Athens of West Africa but is now at the perigee of education in the sub region. Indeed, an academic catastrophe has befallen this nation, but what or who is to blame for our academic tragedy? This is the big question we must answer if we are to get out of the academic mess.
I am inclined to believe that the commercialization of our education at primary, secondary and tertiary levels has contributed immensely to the notoriously appalling standards. Economically starved and consequently money-hungry teachers and lecturers have resorted to the indecent, unprofessional, unpatriotic and destructive habit of selling grades to top up their salaries to make ends meet.
The economic starvation of primary schools caused by the irregular and intermittent payment of woefully insufficient subsidies has rendered primary education ineffective, a situation that is having a negative spill-over effect on secondary and tertiary education. The aforementioned problems have been compounded by the mass non-recruitment of teachers and the consequent shortage of trained and qualified in many schools, especially those in the remote areas.
The West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) is a very important exam taken in the country for pupils at the final stage in high school or Senior Secondary School (SSS 3). This exam enables students who succeed to enter tertiary instructions of their choice upon meeting both general and departmental requirements of the universities or higher institutions. As Sierra Leone is part of the other four Anglophone countries that takes this exam, it prepares students for the working class in the society upon graduation from these universities. And a country will want a good workforce at the end that will contribute to nation building and therefore will be glad to have students passing the WASSCE genuinely without malpractice as that is one determinant in relation to the quality of the student and the exam.
The problem is that a country with high incidence of examination malpractice is likely to miss the quality education target in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) if she continues to compromise the integrity of the system of assessment that usually form part and parcel of any quality education delivery system. In other words, if the country continues to experience examination malpractices it would affect the achievement of quality education which the country is yearning to achieve under the SDGs. In spite of the interactions with candidates during sensitization programmes and engagement with stakeholders, quite a number of malpractices are recorded every year.
Almost all stakeholders of education in one way or the other contributes to examination malpractice. These include: parents/guardians and school authorities who buy ‘live’ papers for students to study beforehand or bribe examiners or invigilators to compromise the examination rules; invigilators and supervisors who collect money and turn a blind eye on whatever happens in the examination room; students who want to get the best score at all cost, and the examination officials who construct test items and mark the papers, those in the questions papers printing room, other officials of the examining body who process the question papers, supervise printing arrangements or transport printed questions, to examination centres.
To conch it all, I recommend that government must move heaven and earth to solve the above problems; otherwise, our educational standard will keep on deteriorating.
