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Exam leaks sure shame on nation
2007-11-10 08:51:04
By Editor
The media are yet again awash with reports of national examinations having leaked.
This time at stake are those currently being done by Form Two students, where failure is supposed to be very costly.
It is reported that the authorities concerned have sworn that it will be fire and brimstone for anyone found to have had the audacity to play funny games with the all-important examinations.
While it is quite possible that they mean what they are actually saying, those who know the goings-on in our education sector will be justified to doubt whether that is indeed the case.
We have been treated to many previous cases of blatant foul play in all manner of examinations in the country – at school, college and university level.
That may not come as a huge surprise as such since research shows that examination cheating has no respect for territorial boundaries – that it is a universal malady.
However, we should not find solace in the possibility that no country is an exception to the rule and then fail to deal with the problem mercilessly enough.
For, whether we like it or not, an education system in which foul play in examinations is a near-permanent feature can only lead to the creation of a sizeable number of half-baked or outright fake professionals.
Previously, the most common incidents of examination cheating related to candidates using – or attempting to use – unauthorised materials and `peeping`.
But the game has since become much rougher, with the new tricks employed including dishonest teachers and invigilators and even complete strangers helping candidates out or actually doing the examinations for them.
Yes, most of this is clearly actionable criminal behaviour.
And, yes, there have been cases of wrongdoers being hauled to court for interfering with the proper flow of the examination process.
But the way many of these cases have ended leaves much to be desired, which is why it is now commonly believed that we have been treating examination cheating and some other forms of crime too leniently for the measures taken to serve as a real deterrent.
There is much positive difference that more strict observance of the law would have made.
Too bad, things have not always run in that direction.
But education is too sensitive a matter to be left to its own devices; the nation must afford it deserving attention.
As an aspiring member of a community of nations where the provision of an education second to none is a priority, Tanzania should do the most it can to free itself from the stigma resulting from association with a shoddy education system where mediocrity can easily win decent recognition at the expense of maliciously subdued excellence.
Belonging to an enlarged East African Community, as we now do, means that we have to reposition all our forces in readiness for very real battle in the regional labour market.
Quick quip: Any quacks churned out by our institutions of learning spell a national disaster. It is that serious.
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