*Photo: A group of Nigerian students*
Is the Nigerian education system committed to fostering an environment of academic honesty and compliance with academic honesty policies through education?
Should we talk about academic honesty, sorry rather than the rampant academic dishonesty in the Nigerian education system? The Nigerian system practices the 6-3-3-4 education rank.
It’s quite obvious and disheartening that academic dishonesty is rampant from the Primary school level to the University undergraduate and graduate levels.
Nigerians keep bashing the rot in the system, but unfortunately, we all contributed to the rot. From some parents to teachers, some lecturers altogether made the education system what it is today. It’s even more obvious that people go to universities nowadays just for the sake of obtaining a certificate and show off that you’re a graduate.
Once, I visited the WES website in 2013(Canadian Credentials vetting site) to make some inquiries for a friend. Right there on their website is a notice; We do not accept transcripts from the University of Port Harcourt. This has been taken down now. For those who do not know, the World Education Services is a US-based non-profit organization that evaluates students’ credentials seeking further studies in the United States and Canada. Essentially, the role of WES is to convert the grades from universities overseas to a standard comparable to those used in America. This assessment ensures a common standard and enables the universities where international students apply to grade them side by side with their US colleagues.
Over the years, lots of supposed graduates were nabbed for having a fake study certificate. And a lot of lecturers are complicit in this atrocity that is still going on unchecked.
A few years ago, a seasoned Minister of Finance had to resign because of a fake NYSC certificate. There was a lot of hullabaloo about her using a forged certificate but not one bothered to investigate and get to the root cause of those issuing fake JAMB certificates till today. Kemi Adeosun took the fall, but business continues for the fraudsters.
Makes me wonder if we really want this country to change for the better?
Few weeks ago, a group of obedients were arguing blindly, arrogantly displaying their ignorance on social media on “recharging lake Chad” or “bottleneck”? Many cannot even write ordinary essay or application letters correctly or confidently.
It’s really shameful and things has to change, soon too.