Stakeholders in the education sector on Monday called for the exposure of examination malpractice perpetrators to curb further spread of the menace.

The stakeholders made the call at the opening ceremony of the 2015 Annual Conference of the Exam Ethics Marshal International (EEMI) with the theme, ‘Conflict Resolution in Season of Change,’ in Abuja.

The stakeholders made their feelings known in their various speeches at the opening session of the conference to explore new ways and leadership skills needed to stop increase malpractice.

He said that that the names of individuals involved in examination malpractice should be published, to deter the practice, adding that withholding the names of the malpractice executors, encouraged the crime.

“The mere announcement of statistics of schools blacklisted and results withheld for mass cheating each year by public examination boards in Nigeria is inadequate.

“Without ever mentioning the names of those involved is akin to aiding, abetting and covering up the perpetrators of examination malpractice, and we think that is a very bad thing to do.

“The non-disclosure of names of indicted supervisors, invigilators and other syndicate members by exam boards makes it possible for exam administrators to continue to participate in the administration of public examinations and to continue in the practice.”

Onyechere said those people had continued “commercialising, compromising and criminalising the examination process for the purpose of making money.”

He said that the anti-corruption war of the present administration should not only be restricted to the recovery of looted funds but should focus on the education sector.

In his remarks, Prof. Abednego Ekoko, the Chairman, Board of Trustees of EEMI, said: “If Nigeria does not kill corruption, corruption will kill Nigeria.

“Likewise, if education does not kill malpractice, malpractice will kill education which will further kill Nigeria.”

Similarly, Maj.-Gen. Mathias Efeovbokhan (rtd), a board member EEMI, described examination malpractice as a cankerworm that has eaten deep into the moral fabrics of the education sector.

Efeovbokhan said that, tackling corruption in the sector should be the priority of this administration as the criminalisation of the education process was more dangerous to the country than treasury looting.

“The criminalisation of education process is more of a matter of life and death than treasury looting.

“This is because it goes beyond corruption to breeding licensed assassins through certification of incompetent professionals to whom we entrust our lives with resultant fatal consequences.

“Buildings are collapsing because of unqualified engineers; lives are at stake because doctors performing surgeries are not qualified all as a result of exam malpractice.”

Efeovbokhan said that parents were also involved in aiding examination malpractice and urged all Nigerians to be patriotic and fight against the menace.

Mr Friday Nnaji, the Principal State Secretary, Nigerian Union of Teachers (NUT), Ebonyi State, blamed the increasing rate of examination malpractice on inadequate monitoring and regulation of private schools.

According to him, private school proprietors do not have anything at stake because they operate on their own and that is why malpractice is easily carried out in their schools.

He said that the problem of malpractice depended majorly on the political will of the government, reiterating that anti-corruption war must start in the education sector.

Mr Patrick Anigbo, an exam Marshal at Federal College of Dental Technology and Therapy, Enugu, said that the call for the fight against exam malpractice was a clarion call for all Nigerians to act in this respect.

Anigbo said that for positive change to happen in the sector, government must provide the necessary infrastructure and encourage teachers’ development. (NAN)

•Photo shows candidates writing exam.