From Awareness Times Newspaper in
Freetown
Sierra Leone News : As Corruption rocketed in public exams …NCTVA Holds Training Workshop for Supervisors and Invigilators
By John Koroma
Jun 14, 2017, 17:02
The National Council for Technical Vocational and other Academic Awards (NCTVA) yesterday Tuesday June 13th 2017 organized workshop training for supervisors and invigilators on how to properly conduct themselves to maintain their integrity during and after exams across the country so that the public would restore more confidence on the Ministry of Education Science and Technology.
Addressing participants from various works of life during the workshop, the Director of NCTVA Mr. M.J Jalloh thanked all participants for their huge turnout in the workshop. He added that recently, examinations malpractices from WAEC are hugely making news every day. He went on to say that corruption is the main reason for the falling standard of education in the country and he therefore encouraged participants to desist from examinations malpractices and upholds the standards of education in high esteem.
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Participants at the training workshop |
Mr. Philips S. Kagoley, Senior Lecturer of the Milton Margai College of Education and Technology (MMCET) Congo Cross Campus expressed gratitude on the strategies to minimize examination malpractices in the country. He added that the purpose of national examinations is to improve intelligibility, efficiency and effectiveness in making decisions about people. He said this may have incredible implications in the lives of the students in the future if the body that are responsible fail to take or put in place proper measures to curb examination malpractices. He added that it is the desire of every students or pupils to pass every exam. However, good performance is based on honesty and in conformity with the rules governing the proper conduct of examination and unfortunately, most examiners have departed from the normal behavior desirable in any examination He continue that this has caused serious problems in our colleges and educational system. He said examination irregularity is an unfair behavior that is intended to make pupils or students score more marks than what his/her natural ability and honest efforts would enable him/her. He defined Examination irregularity as a premeditated act of misconduct, contrary to laid down rules and is intended to place a candidate at an unmerited benefit or disadvantage; he cited that it is a careless, unlawful or unacceptable behavior. It could also be said to be an act of omission or commission that puts the validity and integrity of any examination in doubt. He said Examination irregularity runs counter to the generally accepted ethics of examination; it is a willful disregard to all the rules and regulations that guide the smooth conduct of any given examination. He went on to say that numerous studies indicate that cheating is widespread among college students. Unfortunately, based on self-reported levels of cheating, cheating has now become the order of the day for every examination in Sierra Leone, be it internal or external. Motivations for cheating include pressure to succeed and compete, lack of self-confidence, and a view of the course of study as an immediate hurdle to get past, as opposed to a long-term acquisition of skills as in the case of the alleged spy case at Fourah Bay College in the Law Department by a lecturer from IPAM and many other instances.