Education stakeholders on Monday called for the immediate prosecution of all candidates allegedly involved in malpractice during the just concluded Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME) organised by the Joint Admission and Matriculation Board (JAMB).
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) quotes JAMB as saying that out of 1.5 million candidates that sat for the examination, results for 27,266 were being withheld for examination malpractice. Reacting to the situation in separate interviews, the stakeholders expressed the urgent need to prosecute such offenders, to forestall future occurrence.
Mr Femi Omokungbe, Chairman, Academic Staff Union of Polytechnics (ASUP), Yaba College of Technology chapter, said government must be alive to its responsibility by ensuring the prosecution of examination cheats. ``There is a provision in the constitution to prosecute any candidate found involved in any form of examination malpractice. ``As long as no action is taken against those found culpable, examination malpractice would continue to persist among our youths. ``We must seek a way of punishing offenders to serve as deterrent to others. What we just witnessed during the release of results by the JAMB Registrar-- where we saw handsets built into slippers-- is a clear sign of the level of corruption in the country,” Omokungbe said.
He blamed parents for the high rate of examination malpractice during most external examinations as they were prepared to ensure the success of their children and wards at any cost.
``A lot of today’s parents are very desperate to ensure success at all cost for their children and they go as far as buying questions for their children and even bribing examiners. ``But all these could be reduced if those found guilty are prosecuted and jailed, including their parents, if they are also found culpable,” he said.
Omokungbe said the high rate of malpractice had justified the Post UTME put in place by universities in their attempt to screen and select credible candidates.
For Prof. Ukachukwu Awuzie, President, Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), the outcome of the March 24 examination showed the total collapse of the education sector.
He told NAN on telephone that the challenges in the sector should not be left to the government alone, but should rather be a collective effort of all the stakeholders.
Source:businessdayonline
