Abstract
The study investigated socio-economic factors as attributes for examination malpractice among secondary school students in Cross River State-Nigeria. The survey research design was adopted for the study. The multistage sampling technique was used in selecting total of 1038 students for the study. The instrument employed for data collection was a four point scale developed, validated and
administered by the researchers. Data collected was analyzed with the use of percentages and regression analysis. Among others it was found that, students’ attribute examination malpractice
more to societal factors, followed by school factor, and finally by personal factors. It was found that, there was a significant relationship between societal factors and attribution to examination
malpractice. Base on these findings it was recommended among others that government should device a means of enforcing the law on examination malpractice and the process of employment into public offices should entail both written and oral examinations.
Keywords: Socio-Economic, Examination, Malpractice, Attribution
1.1 Introduction
In Nigeria today, there is a pressing need for job creation with an increasing rate of unemployment, yet there are various sectors of the economy that lack manpower. In an attempt to
bridge this gap, some students force themselves into reading courses that they do not have adequate background knowledge to enable them function in the area of study. This may be because
contemporary Nigerian society places great emphasis on success goals without equivalent emphasis on institutional means of attaining these goals. Examination remains an instrument used for the
assessment of individual skills and cognitive-content, in most academic exercises. The teaching and learning process is more effective when the learners are subjected to a form of testing to determine the extent to which the learners grasp the content of the instruction given and the teacher can also do a kind of self-evaluation on his tasks from the performance of the students. The Nigeria society is characterized by heavy emphasis on success and wealth without a corresponding legitimate means and avenues to be used in achieving success (Paul 2012). It is seemingly a custom that everything in Nigeria today is driven by the desire for success, irrespective of the means used in achieving it |Oje-Ikere (2004). The society as it is constituted today is founded on faulty fragile educational, political, economic and social environment that may not produce a better future, for the present and younger generati.
A society that places very strong emphasis on goal achievement without corresponding emphasis on institutionalized means of achieving these goals is bound to exert pressure as the sector of the society that may eventually resort to the use of any technically expedient means in achieving the set goals irrespective of the means employed for that purpose. Omemu (2015) gave a brief history of examination malpractice in Nigeria; quoting Adesina (2000) who traced the history to 1914. When there was a leakage of the Cambridge examination. He added that cheating became widespread in schools, hence in 1967, the Alexander Commission was set up as a special commission of inquiry to investigate the incidences of malpractice in Nigeria. Other literature also reported that in 1977, there was a widespread leakage of the West Africa School Certificate Examination questions which prompted the government to take it as a challenge to address the issues. The social vices bedeviling the society may permit the entire segment of the educational sector to break down. The resultant consequences are: loss of family values, cultism, moral decadence and above all examination malpractice that has become evident in the education sector of the nation.