The Independent Corrupt Practices
and other related offences Commission has faulted the five-year jail
term proposed for examination fraudsters. It said the law was unfair to
students, who were not provided with basic learning tools.
It blamed the spate of examination frauds in the country on infrastructural deficiency in the education sector.
The Chairman, ICPC, Ekpo Nta, in an
interview with our correspondent, said more examination cheats were
found in schools where there was shortage of human and material
resources.
He criticised proprietors of schools, both government and private, saying educational institutions should meet standards or be shut down.
He said it was time stakeholders
examined the structure, which had been promoting corruption. He added
that once the system was corrected, the individuals would be corrected.
Nta said the last time students accused
of exam malpractices were brought to the commission, he investigated
their background and the schools they came from. He noted that record of
exam malpractices was very low in top schools, including public ones.
It is very rare. Laboratories, libraries, computers, dormitories, dining halls and highly qualified teachers are in such schools. How will a child who has gone through such schools be involved in exam malpractices?
By the time you begin to check those arrested for exam malpractices, they are from community schools, where there is a math teacher for the whole school; no science teacher. And then, you turn around to arrest a child who is a victim (of the inadequacies).
If you prosecute such a child and jail
them for five years, when you never gave them an opportunity, you will
only make them toughened criminals when they are out. You didnt give
them a chance in the first instance, then, you jailed them in addition,
the ICPC boss observed………
