Examination malpractice affects achievement of education policies

Published in the Daily Graphic on 18/12/2009, pg.......

Story: Matilda Attram
Examination malpractice constitutes a serious impediment to the realisation of national education policies and objectives in the country, the Vice-President in charge of Academic Affairs at the Regent University College of Science and Technology, Dr Charles Owiredu, has stated.
He said it contributed to the high standard of corruption in every organisation in the country.
"Examination malpractice is a very dangerous monster that destroys the moral foundation of any society and this robs a nation of its dreams for development because, it plants the seed of unethical and criminal values in the fertile minds of the youth", he said.
Dr Owiredu was speaking at a press conference organised by the Exam Ethics International, Ghana, in Accra, as part of its two-day international conference to be held in the country.
It was on the theme, "Global Best Practices in Education: Imperatives for Domestication in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Institutions".
The conference is expected to train self-recruited volunteer educational stakeholders who would individually and collectively promote best practices, examination ethics, campus safety and integrity of education for the foundation of building transformed leaders for the future.
In a speech, Dr Owiredu stated that Ghana would experience a free and fair educational society if attempts were made to eradicate the canker of examination malpractice in schools.
According to him, research conducted in some educational institutions indicated that some students prepared specifically to cheat during examinations due to their negative attitudes towards learning, while others took advantage of least opportunities in examination rooms to cheat.
Dr Owiredu, who is also the Board Director of Exam Ethics International, Ghana, further stated that examination malpractice involved stakeholders such as the administrators of examinations and parents who encouraged students to practise the negative exercise instead of urging them to learn and pass.
He said, “It is against this background that Exam Ethics was established in Ghana to help eradicate the unethical practices in education and help our students prepare for their examinations."
Exam Ethics International is a non-governmental, non-profit, non-partisan and charitable organisation which focuses on the promotion of best examination practices in education, examination ethics, campus safety and better the performance of students in public examinations.
The Country Director of the organisation, Mr Kofi Ashiboe-Mensah, indicated that the organisation was established to assist educational bodies and institutions in the supervision and invigilation of examinations, as well as monitor and defend the integrity of teaching and training, examinations evaluation and assessment systems.
He said the organisation sought to provide operational integrity training to bodies concerned with professionals and educational stakeholders such as parents, teachers, administrators and public servants from which institutions and examination bodies could receive supervisory support during examinations.
"The objectives of Exam Ethics include the provision of information on ethical best practices in academic, infrastructure and welfare standards in our schools and engage relevant stakeholders for improvements where necessary. We seek to develop and implement initiatives including projects, programmes, publications, promotional and training materials for building the moral foundation of the youth and students into ethics-friendly leaders for the future," he said.
Mr Ashiboe-Mensah also mentioned the inability of students to prepare towards examinations due to laziness, inadequate learning facilities in schools (with a large population of students, wide syllabi provided to schools, poor motivation and remuneration of teachers and corrupt invigilators and supervisors who received bribes from candidates to cheat in examination halls, as some of the causes of examination malpractice in the country.
He, therefore, advised educational institutions and stakeholders to consider the welfare of teachers among other causes to avoid examination malpractice in schools.
The conference would include participants from Ghana, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States of America and would soon establish clubs in all schools in Ghana to train students to overcome the tendency to engage in examination malpractice.