Any Catholic priest or religious leader found to have overtly or tacitly supported examination malpractice in Enugu State now stands the risk of losing his or her faculty to operate as a clergy or religious.

The Catholic Bishop of Nsukka Diocese, Most Rev. Godfrey Igwebuike Onah, read the riot act while speaking to Vanguard in Owerri about how to make the nation’s education sector free from irregularities.

Onah said, “As a church, we want to contribute to making our society better. We cannot all complain that things are bad while we ourselves are doing evil things.

“If parents are not ready to allow us to train their children as Catholic students or pupils, they should enroll them elsewhere.

“The Catholic Church punishes, severely, all forms of abuse of minors and we regard examination malpractice or irregularity, perpetrated by anybody, working for the Church, priest, sister, brother or lay person, as an abuse of minors.”

Quoting from the communique by the Enugu Catholic Bishop, Onah said: “The level of impunity with which various forms of examination irregularities are being perpetrated in our schools today has constrained us, the Catholic Bishops of the Dioceses in Enugu State, together with our close collaborators in the education sector to make this declaration.

“We wish to emphatically state that we have zero tolerance for any form of examination irregularity and will do everything within our reach to eradicate that evil from all our schools.

“Unfortunately, parents and guardians are known to be the main sources of the financial support with which this evil is successfully executed.

“We hereby remind and caution the parents and guardians of young people that their involvement in this evil negates the very essence of parenthood, as well as endangers and mars the future of their children or wards.

“It is the usual practice of the West African Examination Council, WAEC, to punish severely any form of examination irregularity and, in the case of expo or examination malpractice, to seize the results of any school involved, either partly or entirely.

“To avoid making others suffer for an evil they did not commit, any student meddling with expo materials will be on the spot dismissed from our school and will not be allowed to finish the examination there.

“Any principal, head teacher, teacher and administrative staff of any Catholic schools that aid expo or any form of examination irregularity shall be made to understand that they are doing a disservice to humanity and have to vacate their position in the school immediately.

“Members of the clergy, religious men and women, who are directly involved in the management of our schools must know that the Church has mobilized them to ensure that very high standards are guaranteed in the operation and management of our schools.

“Therefore, any priest or religious, involved overtly or tacitly, in the arrangement and/or implementation of any form of examination irregularity, will lose his or her faculty to operate as clergy or religious in our dioceses.

“We urge the State Ministry of Education to engage only men and women of integrity, who cherish excellence in character and learning, to provide services in the education sector, particularly in the conduct of examinations.

“We expect that those government staff, who betray the very essence of their profession by indulging in or aiding any form of examination irregularity, be adequately sanctioned.

“Let us all therefore, join to say ‘No’ to the darkness of evil and evil dealings that have plunged our society into suffering and pain.” (Vanguard)