. . Church doesn’t Tolerate Such – Bishop Ezeokafor
By Ifeoma Ezenyilimba
Students, teachers, schools and examiners that engage in examination malpractice are now to be sanctioned, following the decision of the Anambra State Government to treat such as a criminal offence, reports Ifeoma Ezenyilimba.
The Anambra State Commissioner for Basic Education, Professor Kate Azuka Omenugha, gave this warning at the Maiden Education Summit of the Catholic Diocese of Awka, held at Archbishop A.K. Obiefuna Retreat, Pastoral & Conference Centre, Okpuno, Awka South LGA, Anambra State, from November 4 to 8, with the theme: ”Education for Character Formation, Empowerment and Salvation”.
The Commissioner, who disclosed this while delivering her paper titled: ”Fighting Examination Malpractice & the So-Called ‘Miracle & Magic’ Centres – A Call for Sincere Collaboration”, on November 6, at the summit, noted that examination malpractice had been labelled a criminal offence in Anambra State.
Omenugha, who shared her experiences as a secondary school teacher, a university lecturer, a former Commissioner for Education, and the current Commissioner for Basic Education of the state, regretted that examination malpractice had metamorphosed into a digital crime in society.
The Commissioner berated parents, who, she said, aided their children in patronizing magic centres at the secondary school level and in sorting in higher institutions. According to her, such parents were also collaborators in the crime.
Professor Omenugha warned students and parents to be on their guard against what she described as magic centres in the guise of schools.
She frowned at what she called the disarray in the so-called schools which, she said, ranged from dirt, untidy and tattered environment, as well as total breakdown of law and discipline, at such magic centres.
According to the commissioner, some of the strategies the State Government had put in place to curb exam malpractice included curtailing the excessive number of students being registered for WAEC by schools and engaging the services of stakeholders under the aegis of WAEC Monitoring Volunteer Scheme.
Others measures, she said, were signing of undertaking by exam supervisors and syllabus check to ensure that the students were well taught by the teachers.
She also added that re-accreditation of schools for WAEC & NECO exams, and biometric capturing of the students were on course to curb the menace.
