Change Agent Seeks Stiffer Punishment For Exam Cheats

Exam Ethics Marshals International, a change agent for informational education, on Wednesday in Abuja, called for stiffer punishment for people who cheat during examinations.

The founding chairman of the organisation, Mr. Ike Onyechere, made the call in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).

He said it was wrong to allow exam cheats to get away with their offences and urged the Federal Government to always publish the names and photographs of individuals caught cheating during examinations.

Onyechere said such stiffer punishments would help revive the education system.

“In Ghana, WAEC has a policy that says if you catch students blacklist them, publish their photographs in the paper and so on; they are doing it in other country but they are not doing it here. Why can’t it be done here.?

“Why is it a secret? Even when JAMB says supervisors and invigilators were aiding students, they did not give us the names; why can’t they give us the names?

“The law says they should blacklist students caught cheating; they should publish their names in newspapers. That is what the law, Section 16 (1 and 2) of the Exam Malpractice Act says, but the exam bodies in Nigeria are not doing it.”

Onyechere called on the public to take up the fight against examination fraud by encouraging good conduct by students during examinations.

He urged the media to hold examination boards accountable for the failure of the blacklist initiative as enshrined in WAEC’s examination code.

The foundation chairman disclosed that as an agent of change in the education sector, Exam Ethics Marshals International would counsel at least 10 million people and students on the need to shun exam fraud.

Onyechere added that the organisation would increase mentoring clubs in at least 50,000 primary, secondary and tertiary institutions by the year 2014.

According to him, exam ethics clubs are already working as change agents in their own schools, classes, offices and stations across the country to support President Goodluck Jonathan’s vision of national transformation through value re-orientation in education.

He commended Jonathan for his efforts at reducing exam malpractices in the country, noting that exam malpractices could lead to dishonesty, collapse of morality and value system in education and compromise best practices.