By Anu Smith
The Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT) said curbing examination malpractice in Oyo State should be a joint effort.
It, however, tasked the West African Examination Council (WAEC) to block leakages from its end.
This was in reaction to the delisting of 50 schools in the state by the WAEC over examination malpractice.
The State Chairman, of NUT, Mr Raji Oladimeji, said the delisting of 50 schools in Oyo State for examination malpractice was not a good one as it affected not only schools in the state but across the federation.
He said 25 public schools and 25 private schools made up the 50 schools that were delisted by WAEC.
Oladimeji noted that malpractice has been on for so long and what each school caught does was to pay the sum of N500,000 levied on it for the offence.
“But what the State Government is saying now is that enough is enough; if you allow yourself to be used in your school then you should be able to source for the payment of that N500,000 fine,” he said.
The NUT chairman noted that other factors contribute to the spate of malpractice in the state as some parents encouraged their wards and children in the act.
“Above all the Chief examiner, which is WAEC cannot be exonerated from the problem and why blame our teachers, parents and others? It needs to ensure there are no leakages from its end,” he said.
Oladimeji stated that offenders of malpractice in 2021 were punished and those involved in malpractice in 2022 would also be punished.
Also, an Educationist and Chief Executive Officer of, the Educational Advancement Centre, Dr Muyiwa Bamgbose, said the sanction was long overdue and was needed to curb the spate of malpractice in the state.
Bamgbose said the cheating rate had been so alarming and it affects the quality of students who put in for advanced studies or sat for post-UTME.
“If they can keep this up it would be good, so let everybody sit up because students are now preparing to cheat, they are no longer studying, it is a very bad situation,” he said.
Meanwhile, the Oyo State Government says it will sanction Principals and Parents of recently delisted schools by the West Africa Examinations Council (WAEC) for examination malpractices in the state.
The State Commissioner for Education, Science and Technology, Barr. Abiodun Abdu-Raheem in a statement said the state government would sanction both the principals and parents found wanting because of its zero tolerance for examination malpractice.
He also warned principals to desist from encouraging examination malpractice which was becoming endemic in both the private and public schools in the state.
“It should be noted that the Oyo State Government has zero tolerance for examination malpractices, therefore, Principals and Teachers of both Private and Public Schools and parents were earlier warned to desist from any act of collaboration on examination malpractices as sanctions would be meted to concerned staff and parents”, he said.
Abiodun disclosed that only the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has the authority to release a list of schools that were identified to be involved in examination malpractices and de-recognise such schools accordingly.
He further said that derecognized schools will not be permitted to present candidates for WAEC for two years, saying “however, this does not debar students of such schools from sitting for the West African Examination Certificate (WAEC), as they are mobilised to the nearest school to write the WAEC; only the identified school is derecognized as a WAEC Centre”.
“It should be noted that the Government of Oyo State will waste no time to investigate any such occurrence, while the necessary punishments as enumerated above will be meted to anyone found guilty”, he said.
The commissioner, however, advised heads of both public and private institutions in the state to desist from any act that could ridicule their schools and portray the image of the state in a bad light.
He, therefore, enjoined the general public to note that no student in the State would be prevented from writing the WAEC in the 2022/2023 Academic Session and subsequent years.