Curbing exam cheating in our schools

        The government plans to convene a meeting of Education Ministry department heads to discuss the fate of standard 7 pupils whose Primary School Leaving (PSLE) examination results were nullified due to cheating.

Permanent Secretary for the Regional Administration and Local Government Mussa Lyombe said last month that discussions were already under way. “We want to review the current education policies so that pupils found to have cheated in exams can be given a chance to resit,” he said.

About 238 pupils had no reason to smile after their examination results were nullified over cheating. Their future remains uncertain.

The National Examination Council of Tanzania (Necta) executive secretary Charles Msonde said the head teacher at Tumaini Primary School in Sengerema District, Mwanza Region had directed pupils to write examination answers in their uniforms. Upon scoring answer sheets, pupils’ answers were similar, a situations which culminated into nullification of their results.

He said the head teacher at Mihamakumi Primary School in Sikonge District, Tabora Region was arrested by the Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) officials for assisting pupils to cheat in exams.

Dr Msonde alleged that teachers at Quash Primary School in Babati District, Manyara Region hid in toilets to prepare pupils’ answers while at St Gertrude Primary School teachers had hidden in dormitories to prepare answers for pupils.

Critics say it is obvious that most private schools could strive to cheat so as to attract customers at their institutions. They are business-oriented. They have no qualm to churn out fake products for the public consumption.

Arusha regional Teachers’ Trade Union (TTU) chairman Lotha Laizer said the pupils should not be blamed, instead the culpability should be vested to the teachers and schools administration that use the exams as the platform to market their respective schools.

Indeed, cheating is unfair to honest pupils. A cheater receives through deception what honest students work hard for; and in classes graded on a curve, he lowers their grades to boot.

This trend not only demoralizes their fellow students but also mocks those who strive for success. Ms Elizabeth Derua, a mother to a recent standard seven leaver, held that the frauds discourage them too as parents, as they at times envision even those who have not involved in cheating as part of those involved in the malicious act.

Cheating also cheapens the certificate. How valuable can a sheepskin be if so many people receive it under false pretenses? But the devaluation is not just figurative. A Primary school certificate is a valuable commodity, only if people trust that it is a mark of excellence. That trust is undermined as people become aware of the amount of cheating in schools.

But more disturbing is that academic dishonesty perverts the central mission of an education facility. Education is much more than just learning facts. And it’s more than mastering the ability to solve problems, to understand complicated issues, to detect bullshit (sophistry), and to articulate your views. A quality education requires commitment to an ever deeper understanding of self and of one’s place in the social and natural world; and when successful, it leads to a critical examination of the assumptions that guide one’s life.

The charlatan cheats himself of an education. His/her actions imply that he either does not understand what a quality education is or does not care about getting one. And this has major impact in his latter learning endeavors.

Mr Lotha further said these cheats, in primary schools, pose a major constraint to teachers in secondary schools as their incompetency has to be dealt with later in their further learning.

But what’s worst is that cheating contributes to an environment in which otherwise honest students learn to view education as merely the temporary acquisition of facts. And if it’s temporary, what can it matter whether it’s understood, memorized, or written on a cheat-sheet?

Sengerema District executive director Magesa Mafuru also commented on how the tricksters put the nation at stake upon creating individuals with less intelligence and almost no ability to conduct analysis of any sort.

Many in our community will point to a lack of moral integrity among students who cheat as the primary cause of academic fraud. Others will cite a greed-driven society in which a primary school certificate is seen as the fastest means to enroll in ordinary secondary school. These assessments are partially true but ultimately self-serving. They omit the crucial role played by the rest of head teachers and honest pupils who unwittingly nurture an environment in which cheating is bound to thrive. Most people don’t arrive in schools inclined to cheat. Cheating is both cause an effect of an atmosphere in which too many of us ignore or disrespect quality education and minimal standards of decent conduct.

Mr Magesa thus insisted on a need to forge a strong partnership between the parents and the teachers so as to curb this challenge; and completely discourage any trait that seeks to provide for and aggravate any nature precipitating cheating.

Mr Laizer said: “I commend Necta’s crack down on schools which were involved in examination cheating. We are tired to hear pupils completing Standard Seven while they are unable to read and write. I hear that some managers were alleging Dr Msonde was sabotaging their institutions. I would urge them to go to court instead of lamenting in social media,” He added: “We work very hard to be a place that sends competent people into the world. But we do not work nearly as hard to be a place that sends ethical people into the world. Is this really a wise combination?”

A tutor at Katoke Teacher’s College in Muleba District Kagera Region, Mr Stedius Kazinduki, said cheating is caused by pressure from parents, teachers, peers and society in general to produce good grades in examination.

He noted that parents want their children to score high marks and join prestigious schools, teachers want performance in their subjects to be good, and society expects good performance from the students in school.

The 25-year experienced instructor said poor invigilation of examinations by teachers and the generally congested examination rooms also lead to an increased tendency to cheating in examinations.

Mr Kazinduki called on teachers and school managers to abide by professional code of conduct in a fresh bid to make our children become law-abiding citizens in the foreseeable future.