Examination malpractice in Nigeria has
taken a frightening dimension as students are now offered answers to the
ongoing West African Examination Council (WAEC) test questions hours
before the exam papers are written on several websites and blogs.
No fewer than four websites offering
answers for free and for a token yesterday provided answers to
examination papers on Christian Religious Studies, Islamic Religious
Studies and Chemistry which were written yesterday a few hours before
the exams started.
Some of the websites and blogposts
advertised the cost of getting answers, giving options of receiving the
answers either as text messages or passwords to specific areas of their
websites where full answers are obtained; only part of the answers are
provided on the websites.
One of the websites advertising for
mathematics (which will be written this Thursday) wrote on its home
page: “Special package! Maths Runs. Subscribe for maths early to get
registered early. Good News: tell you friends that www.codedclass.com
have (sic) mathematics answers and will be posted sent by 11-12am
Wednesday midnight. Mathematics questions are now ready!
“Ensure you subscribe to get it before
time. Direct=N1,000 MTN card; Password=N500 MTN card. Forward the card,
your name, your subject to 090xxxxxxx. Transfer is allowed. Please don’t
call just; send your details because the number might be switched
off/divert due to too much calls.”
Posing as a distressed student in need
of answers to the upcoming mathematics paper, LEADERSHIP’s correspondent
called the number provided on another website advertising answers. The
male voice that answered the call said that to get answers via SMS would
cost N800 while a password which would require logging on to the
website would cost N500.
When LEADERSHIP asked how the password
worked as it was cheaper, he advised that getting the answers via the
online platform, WhatsApp, would be better as it also costs N500 and
easier to get, saying he was not sure “if you can really use the
Internet like that.”
Another website had lower rates as it
offered answers via SMS for N600 and N500 for password. No fewer than
four websites were discovered to be involved. On one of the websites
which displayed three phone numbers, two of the numbers went straight to
voicemail, while the other one was constantly engaged.
When LEADERSHIP got through, a male
voice denied having the ability to ‘help’ with the exams this year. He
said his website ran educational materials and advertised on some other
websites, adding that his number may have been mixed up with “some expo
website.”
Meanwhile, the Lagos State police
command has said it will beam its searchlight on the social medium
school portal called www.solutionclass.com.
The medium was said to have provided
answers to students sitting for WAEC and JAMB (university entrance)
examinations two hours before the examination commences, at a fee.
The Lagos State police public relations
officer, SP Dolapo Badmos, gave the assurance that the police would look
into the matter.
While speaking on the issue with
LEADERSHIP at the office of the state commissioner of police, command
headquarters, Ikeja, Badmos said: “We are going to beam our searchlight
on it. If we find anything incriminating, we’ll commence investigation.
For now, it seems like an observation. I don’t think it is real. You
know, some Nigerians are gullible, but when we beam our searchlight on
it, we will know whether it is real or not,” she said.
Asides solutionclass.com, other websites
advertising answers for a token include morebaze.com,
humbleloaded.com.ng and coadedclass.com
The exam body itself has admitted knowledge of the issue but said it was probing the occurrence.
The public affairs officer of WAEC, Mr.
Demianus Ojijeogu, said, “We are still investigating the matter. We
don’t have the staff strength that can follow all the supervisors from
our custodial centres to the exam halls. We have put in place measures
to forestall leakage of our exam papers.”
Source: Vanguard
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