The Menace of Examination Malpractice in Nigeria: Causes and Solutions

Abstract

A lingering development challenge in Nigeria is a growing population of unmarketable school-leavers and graduates. This study employed the critical and documentary research methods to review the menace of examination malpractice in Nigeria with a view to identifying the causes and solutions. The situation is predicated on the acquisition of unviable education at all the three levels of education: basic, secondary and tertiary. Decorative certificates are acquired, without the necessary skills content. The craze for certificate and white-collar jobs is continually leading to frustrations because increasing number of school-leavers and graduates obtain dysfunctional certificates for diminishing white-collar job opportunities, leading to growing unemployment and poverty. The education system lacks the appropriate education technology (AET), which produces enterprise-ready school-leavers and graduates by
enabling the learner to discover the environment and imparts the skills for
economic self-reliance and poverty reduction. On the other hand, government measures to address unemployment by changing the education system and curriculum has proved abortive, showing that the problem is that of education system and curriculum. It is recommended that AET should be mainstreamed in the education system to engender entrepreneurship drive and build entrepreneurial skills, instill self-confidence in leaners, and empower and position them to tap into the numerous business opportunities around them, especially based on bounteous natural endowment in Nigeria. AET will create functionality, marketability, self-employability, and job creation capacities for self-reliance and poverty reduction among the school-leavers and graduates.