WHEN THE TEACHERS ENGAGE IN EXAM MALPRACTRICES

Everyone in the country finds it convinient to say that Nigerian graduates are unemployable, making the efforts of most graduates unappreciated going by the unconducive learning environment that the average Nigerian student has to contend with. Even those who should be held responsible for this precarious situation shamelessly make this insinuations and no one seeks to hold anyone responsible.

The maxim which says that ‘teachers have their rewards in heaven’ has been eroded and deservedly too, but do they really have their rewards on earth since waiting for heaven is too long? Of course I am writing about teachers in Nigeria and the way they are renumerated, trained and empowered to discharge their duties efficiently and professionally. I witnessed an era whereby teachers were respected and even though were not rich, were of high quality and standard. Teachers were as important as parents based on their level of influence on the life of their students.

About a month ago, Lagos state conducted promotional exams for grade level 9 and 10 teachers, and I happened to be an invigilator, the average age of these teachers were 40years and by that fact some of them were old enough to be my mother. At the inception of the examination which was slated for one and a half hours, one man who looked to be in his late forties or early fifties beckoned on me and asked me to co-operate with them and that they had an envelope prepared for me, I told him, I did not understand what he was talking about and then he went further to make me understand that my invigilation should be one that would allow them use chips, I told him that it was against my religious belief, and he looked really frustrated. During the exams I siezed two chips brought in by two women (one of them looked old enough to be my mother), they had them hidden under their skirts. I had a hard time stopping and curtailing their communications in the class. At the end of the exams, one of them accosted me and offered me the envelope as earlier promised, but I bluntly refused and she could not believe her eyes, because I was young and my outlook gave the impression of one who should compromise.

It is an unfortunate situation here because there is a saying which goes thus ‘when the foundation is weak, what can the righteous do’?. The teachers are meant to be the foundations of the society, while the children be the righteous who depend on what virtures they are indoctrinated with to shape their lives. Now that we have teachers ready to cheat to pass their promotional exams what will students that they teach do? Will they be different from what they see their teachers do? Where are those teachers who taught  that honesty is the best policy? Teachers should know that their profession is a fundamental one.