| From Awareness Times Newspaper in
Freetown Local News 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.
Mr. Williams Mansaray giving the overview of the workshop said that the main purpose of the workshop is to bring invigilators to their toes and prepare them better to conform to the rules and regulations governing the examinations body of the country. He added that the NCTVA is one of the examinations bodies of the country that conducts over five different exams. He went on to say that the supervisors and invigilators are always there to help the National Council for Technical Vocational and other Academic Awards (NCTVA) in serving as the eye of the NCTVA and ensure that exams are conducted in fair and transparent manner that embraces the tenets of the rules and regulations governing all public exams in the country. Analyzing the causes of exams malpractices in the country, the participants said that invigilators familiarization with students /pupils and sexual attraction are the two major causes of exams malpractices in the country. As part of their recommendations , Participants said that institutions should ensure that syllabus are well exhausted within the academic year and put strict measures to prevent leakages of papers.
In an exclusive interview with Mr. Koin-John Stephen one of the exams Officers of NCTVA said that they are hurried about the rapid increase of exams malpractices across the country. “We have also our board of examiners and Conference of Principals who do take responsibility of the exams to maintain standards,’’ said Mr. Koin-John Stephen. 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. © Copyright 2005, Freetown, Sierra Leone. |
