By Okafor Sebastine Chukwuebuka
Recently, through friends and allies, I acquired some electronic devices designed to help curb examination malpractices across schools—both secondary and tertiary institutions. Ironically, the invention of artificial intelligence, which ought to aid learning, has worsened the situation. Some students now snap their question papers, upload them to AI-enabled platforms, and use the answers to write their exams.
This problem is not limited to a particular school. It exists in almost every school I have recently visited—especially public institutions. During examinations, some staff members go as far as aiding these illegal acts, sometimes using physical and emotional blackmail. I have visited schools in Ebonyi, Enugu, and Anambra States in recent times, and what I witnessed was deeply troubling. Senior lecturers, Heads of Departments, and even proprietors go out of their way to protect students caught in malpractice. In some places, staff are allowed to collect as little as ₦1,000 per student to “look away” during exams. That is the sad reality.
From the experiences gathered so far, there seems to be a widespread culture of aiding and abetting examination malpractice in educational institutions – particularly in Secondary and Tertiary institutions.
Suffice it to state that some of the departments of Tertiary institutions are filled with personnel who seem to have lost touch with what academic integrity means. They shield their students under the excuse of: “Hapụ nụ ụmụaka ka ha dee exam [Allow these students to write their exams]; you cannot save Nigeria.” Some institutions go as far as creating Examination Malpractice Marshals, but instruct them never to penalize students. Imagine catching a student using AI to write an exam, confiscating the phone, and still allowing the student to continue without even issuing a new answer script. Consider the message this sends to other students in the hall.
To make things worse, during one of our recent visits to a university in the South East, a Head of Department in Political Science was caught on camera instructing students to physically attack any invigilator—internal or external—who attempted to collect their phones during exams. That individual is an Associate Professor, and it is disturbing to imagine what he is teaching beyond the classroom.
In many schools, principals even pay money to handpick invigilators for external exams. Once these compromised invigilators destroy the moral fibre of the students placed under their care, some university lecturers complete the damage by ignoring ethics entirely.
Thankfully, not all institutions are the same. Godfrey Okoye University and Coal City University have maintained zero tolerance for malpractice. These schools have functional CCTV cameras in their examination halls, well-trained and adequate invigilators, and network-jamming devices that make cheating with mobile phones nearly impossible. Meanwhile, in many public schools, only two invigilators are assigned to monitor over 280 students in a hall where seven students sit in a single row. This makes the malpractice even easier.
There are also institutions with good leadership but poorly motivated or compromised staff who make genuine reform impossible. Examples include ESUT, IMT, UNN, and FUNAI. These schools show signs of readiness to fight the problem but are still trapped by internal sabotage and negligence.
This situation contributes greatly to the quality of graduates produced. Many companies today are hesitant to recruit despite the abundance of graduates with excellent results. The truth is, many of these so-called “first-class” and “second-class upper” graduates cannot meet basic workplace expectations because their grades are not a true reflection of their competence.
It is time to borrow a leaf from our brothers in the South West, who have shown better commitment to discipline and transparency during examinations. If we are truly interested in raising thinkers, creators and honest citizens, we must rise to protect the credibility of our education system—regardless of whose name is involved.
