UTME: Educationist Berates Parents Over Exam Malpractice

An educationist,  Dr. Peter Ogudoro, has berated parents who help their children cheat while writing examinations or trying to gain admission into the higher institutions in Nigeria.

Ogudoro, who is the founder of Ogudoro Leadership Trainers & Management Consultants, blamed their actions on values the society is transmitting to the people lately.

He also blamed universities for allowing some corrupt few tarnish the image of the higher institutions in the country.

Recall that the registrar of the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), Is-haq Oloyede, yesterday, described Nigerian parents and universities as cheats.

Oloyede made the statement when the Senate Committee on Basic and Secondary Education members visited the board’s headquarters on Monday.

Commenting on the recently concluded UTME examination, the JAMB registrar explained that parents were bypassing protocols and bribing security officers during the examinations.

Oloyede also lamented the fact that some Nigerian universities admit students whose scores are not up to the cut off marks and ask them to later go and regularize their scores at JAMB office.

The JAMB registrar told the committee, “Our challenge remains examination malpractice, especially with regards to parents who keep calling me to favour their wards or children whether they meet the requirements of the system or not.”

In a chart with this Prime Business Africa reporter on this topic, Ogudoro backed the JAMB registrar, saying “Nigeria is a country where the people suffer from diploma disease. It is a situation where people think that the reason why you school is because you have to acquire certificate which for the average family is a meal ticket.

“So for that reason candidates engage in fraudulent acts such as multiple registrations, bribing officials and security operatives attached the CBT test centre among other things, simply because they need to gain admission and get a degree.”

Continuing, Ogudoro said “Education should first and foremost liberate the mind, help you to acquire the capacity to function as a responsible citizen and be able to make a contribution in a way that you utilize your skills, gifts and potentials to the advantage of yourself, your family and the entire nation”.

“Parents have been trained by the society to over emphasize the value and importance of academic credentials in the home and you cannot completely blame them. Most of them have had terrible experiences that they do not want their children experience all over again.”

He said that Parents help their children cheat because they feel they want to safeguard the future of their children, adding that the crazy drive is towards acquiring a certificate whether they have the brain for it or not.

Ogudoro said that these happenings can only mean that we haven’t built good and strong systems that can prevent people from using their positions illegally.