Examination Mal practice is an ugly situation, that has been eating up our nation’s economy. Most of the fraudsters we have in this country Nigeria, were all by-products of examination mal-practice, fondly called “EXPO”. It has been a situation that is  very difficult to control in present day Nigeria. Why? Because everybody needs money. Even in the primary schools, it is happening there. I could remember when I took my Common Entrance examination, my school faced hell. We refused to take part in the so-called expo. We were called different names, and I got irritated. The worst of it all, was that most of the answers were wrong. In a situation like this, where primary School children, practice exam mal-practice, what would be of the secondary schools, what about the universities? This problem is like a canker worm eating up the nation.

The teacher and parents are even encouraging this social problem. I mean what is the meaning of entertainment money, when a student has already paid the required amount for the examination. The teacher’s force the students to bring money, in order to bribe the invigilator, so that they could practice exam mal-practice. If a child, knows that his/her parents don’t have the money to bring out. The child might be tempted to steal, for the expo. Students nowadays, no longer read for their exams, because expo is coming, none of them bothers to check, if the answers that are given to them are correct.

Nobody is now afraid of the 21 years imprisonment, if caught practicing exam ma-practice, because money now speaks. The rate of unemployment is now high, few qualified persons to take the jobs. Our school certificates are now regarded as rubbish, because it is assumed that most of the results are through examination mal-practice, looking around the society, you would see graduates, expo-graduates, walking around the streets, with big files, but yet cannot defend their results.

The teachers and parents, infact everybody involved in this act, might think he/she is helping that child, but it is all wrong, you are instead causing more harm than good, because that child would not be able to depend or have confidence in him/herself, thereby producing half baked graduates. You would come to find out that somebody who studied Mathematics at school, might graduate from school, and would not be able to solve a simple equation. It would be a very shameful thing to us. Most of these unemployed people( job seekers) were all brought up from the normal “EXPO”, in such a case the nation’s economy suffers.

Parents please, do not be a part to this, if you don’t pay for entertainment fee, your child would not practice “EXPO”, Teachers if you don’t give the students answer, they would definitely read their books and write with there heads, and their own knowledge. The teachers are the prime cause of examination mal-practice, Teacher’s “you might think that it is only affecting the students, but it is also affecting you, because you’re a part of the nation.

The Government is not bothered about this problem, because most of their children are in private schools, therefore neglecting the public schools, when 90% of the children are in public schools, if they are neglected and their teachers are not being paid, it is pitiable because they will have to use “Expo” to write their exams, because they are not been taught anything. This is a very bad situation, that has to be tackled.

There are various forms of examination mal-practices in different levels of Education.

In the Primary School and Junior Secondary it is called “Expo or entertainment fee” in the Senior Secondary, they practice what is called “IMPERSONATION” that is writing an exam for another person, then in the university it is called “SORTING”, in sorting the students give the lecturers money, just to make good graders, and most of the females among them, sell their bodies, to make high marks. The government is neglecting the educational sector.There are so many ways the government could control this situation.

First of all, the government should make strict laws about exam mal-practice.

Secondly, any school caught practicing exam-mal practice should be closed for 7 years, and all the teachers arrested.

Thirdly, any student caught in the act, would be arrested, together with the parents.

All the people that are involved in the exam-mal practice should face life imprisonment. Being a concerned junior secondary school student in Nigeria, I strongly feels that examination mal-practice demeans us as a nation.  Thank you.

Chidera Ejiogu  is 13 and writes from NIGERIA.