Three teachers, student held for alleged exam malpractice

The police, in collaboration with West African Examination Council (WAEC), have arrested three teachers and a student for alleged examination malpractice.

The police said the arrest was carried out by the cybercrime unit of the Force in collaboration with WAEC.

The suspects are: Ihuokanma Darlington, 36; Ernest Kelechi, 33; Godstime Onuoha, 35 and Uche Chukwuma.

Darlington, a Political Science graduate of Anambra State University, teaches at Okon Grammar School in Anambra State.

Kelechi, who is a graduate of Physics from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Akwa, teaches at Community Secondary School, Ogah, while Onuoha is Head of Department (HOD) Mechanical Engineering graduate from Federal Polytechnic, Nekede. He teaches at Pathway Secondary School in Ngor Okpala, Imo State.

Chukwuma is a student at Charry Secondary School in Rivers State.

They were arrested in Imo, Anambra and Rivers states.

The police said the suspects were involved in the transmission of examination questions and answers of the West African Senior Certificate Examination (WASSCE) through the social media.

Speaking on Thursday at the parade of the suspects at the Force Headquarters in Abuja, the nation’s capital, Force spokesman Frank Mba, a Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), said they were found to have snapped pictures of the examination questions and their solutions on the social media.

Condemning their actions, Mba said: “It is a social ill that the police are working collaboratively with relevant agencies to tackle.

“The Nigeria Police Force has in its custody four male suspects who were arrested and investigated for the roles they played in directly facilitating examination malpractice in the just-concluded WAEC.

“Paradoxically, of these four suspects, three are teachers. We find this very disturbing because teachers are supposed to help in nurturing the students and be the custodians of the highest level of ethics in our educational system.

“They are supposed to protect and strengthen the integrity of the system and play leading roles at ensuring that persons who are issued with certificates are deserving of the honours that go with the certificates.

“The suspects committed the offence using their phones. This highlights some of the challenges associated with the growing use of the social media and the revolution that comes with information technology.

“They were transmitting the answers to various questions through the social media, using their smartphones.”

-The Nation