Education: JAMB commends Lagos on fight against exam malpractices

*The Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board has lauded Lagos State for demonstrating exemplary leadership by sanctioning 27 schools over the exam infractions during the during 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations and Basic Education Certificate Examinations

Emmanuel Akosile | ConsumerConnect

For its efforts at enhancing the integrity of public examinations in Nigeria, Prof. Is-haq Oloyede, Registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB), has applauded the Lagos State Government (LASG) in checking examination malpractices and urged other states to emulate the Centre of Excellence in the country.

It is recalled that Lagos State recently penalised 27 schools that were caught perpetrating examination malpractices during 2020 West African Senior School Certificate Examinations (WASSCE) and the Basic Education Certificate Examinations (BECE) in the state with a fine of N500,000 each.

Dr. Fabian Benjamin, JAMB’s Head of Media, in a statement said Prof. Oloyede, however, said the state yet ought to do more in this regard.

The JAMB Registrar was in Lagos recently, to support candidates with challenges registering for the 2021 Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME), said Lagos demonstrated exemplary leadership by sanctioning the schools over the exam infractions.

It is the way to go in stamping out the menace of examination malpractice by some private schools which are desperate to showcase excellent results for their students without making commensurate efforts, stated Oloyede.

The statement also quoted him as saying, “I like what Lagos State did yesterday or day before by imposing N500,000 on some of these schools and some other restrictions but they should go beyond that.

“If I were Lagos State Government I won’t impose N500,000 because the emphasis is not on the money.

“I would just have deregistered the schools as an example, and I will move all the candidates elsewhere because these are people who are destroying the school system.”

According to the JAMB Registrar, “I believe that states government should go beyond Lagos Government.

“Yes, Lagos Government did and other states will cover up they will even be fighting the examination body that it didn’t happen.

“Lagos came out and impose 500,000 but to me that’s dirty money that should not go into our common pool.”

Oloyede added: “They should better go and give the money to motherless homes because the emphasis will be shifted to money.

What they ought to have done is to arrest the principal of the school, prosecute the principal, prosecute the teachers and deregister the school.

“What they did for them is that they will not be able to register for two years but that’s not enough.

“Deregister the whole school, tell the whole school that once you’re caught in this thing the school will be confiscated by the government you do something that show that you are serious about eradication.”

Dr. Fabian noted that the Board had been hard on examination cheats, introducing new innovations to fight examination malpractices.