Inter-College Lecture Delivered by Prof. Jonathan Fletcher

Prof. Jonathan Fletcher

The last of the Inter-College lecture series for the first semester of the 2017/2018 academic year, has been delivered by Prof. Jonathan Fletcher, Acting Dean, School of Education and Leadership on the topic “Examination Malpractice: A threat to Global Development”.

In a welcome address, acting Provost of the College of Education, Prof. Michael Tagoe, who chaired the lecture, emphasized the need to study the root cause of examination malpractice, its effects on society and find lasting solutions to it. He noted the timeliness of the lecture as it coincides with an ongoing campaign by the Careers and Counselling Centre of the University to sensitize students on the cost of examination malpractice.

Provost of the College of Education, Prof. Michael Tagoe

In his lecture, Prof. Fletcher, outlined the positive correlation between education and national development adding that examination malpractice undermines education and hence affects national and global development.

He explained that there is a strong relationship between education and income earned, as education raises the per capita income of a country and helps to achieve all the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). He said examination malpractice is dangerous because it has a negative long-term effect on the nation and hence the need to curb it.

Prof. Fletcher catalogued some of the causes for examination malpractice as laziness, the desire to pass examinations at all costs, limited time for academic work, inadequate preparation for exams, peer pressure, inadequate teaching and learning.  In his presentation, he also showed practical examples of exam malpractice including the latest hi-tech smart cheats that are almost impossible to detect.  Using statistics, he revealed the alarming rate at which candidates writing the West Africa Senior Secondary Certificate examinations are involved in examination malpractice.

Throwing light on the effects of examination malpractice, he noted that it makes good students lazy and less effective since they discover easy means of getting the same result.  He pointed out that, examination malpractice causes undeserving people to occupy leadership positions and thus bring about inefficient leadership.

In conclusion, Prof. Fletcher suggested that countries should take stringent measures to curtail examination malpractice, and cited the radical decision of Ethiopia to shut down the country’s internet connection for the sake of an examination.  He also admonished countries to invest in purchasing good machines that can detect the hi-tech smart cheats that are being used lately.

A number of faculty and students attended the lecture. 

The Inter-College Lecture Series will continue in the second semester of the 2017/18 academic year.

A cross section of the Audience