The manner in which examination malpractice is engulfing the educational sector of Sierra Leone is becoming so alarming that government needs to put on robust measures to ensure that the act of involving in examination malpractice is nip on the bud.
Many shades of opinion point accusing fingers on teachers for being the architects of promoting the act of examination malpractices, basing their claims on the fact that teachers who supposedly should act as supervisors and invigilators in these examinations rather act in the capacity of shields who protects the students to carry out their examination malpractice with impunity. They are also alleged of relaxing examination rules for the students by allowing them use their phones and other materials to access the answers drawn by examiners.
Another school of thought will attribute the blame of examination malpractice to staffs of the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC) for failing to restrict its examination question papers from being out before the examination begins. Besides they are also accused of conniving with some school authorities in a form of syndicate in order to smoothly machinate examination malpractices, for which they will collect some money from school authorities in return.
However some others will cast the blame on the Anti-graft commission, because the challenge of bringing to an end the menace of examination malpractice which has almost become a culture, especially in external examinations lies squarely on the Anti-corruption commission whose mandate is to take is to take all necessary steps for the prevention, eradication or suppression of corruption and corrupt practices.
Therefore, the philosophy of establishing the scorpion squad by the Anti-corruption commission to ensuring that exams malpractices are obliterated is a fine exertion by the commission, but how effective this squad will prove in exposing those engaged in such an unpatriotic act of examination malpractice remains the trillion questions that deserve an appropriate answer.
Therefore it is the view of the covenant newspaper that the commission should ensure that robust supervision is being conducted by the commission and that officials conducting the supervision should display the required professionalism and integrity so that they will create the enabling environment for a fair examination that is devoid of any malpractice, as we are of the take that, corruption is a prominent canker worm that have destroyed and eaten on the fabrics and development aspirations of Sierra Leoneans, so as such, the commission should work assiduously to ensuring that the scourge of corruption is annihilated to the annals of history.
To us in the covenant newspaper, this is a clear showcase of unpatriotic dispensation and does not in any small way help in the academic development of the student, rather it helps to degenerate the potential of the student in question, because it creates room for less competition and make students lack the required anxiety to read and understand their academic work properly, due to the notion that examination answers will be provided for them by their teachers or other hired agents.
Besides the covenant Newspaper is of the strong conviction that the only way that Sierra Leone can progress as a nation is when the mindset of Sierra Leoneans is completely transform to positivity and that one prominent means of transforming the mindset is through quality education, that will enhance the citizens of this nation with the necessary confidence and ability to question those entrusted with the powers to administer the state.
The covenant Newspaper is therefore calling on the attention of the Government of President Bio and authorities in the Ministry of Education to pay keen attention on the above mentioned subject, if they were to succeed the challenge of making education a flagship project.
