Consequences of Cheating in Examination

What is Examination cheating?
Cheating , according to Oxford Dictionary, it is the breaking of set rules especially in examinations in an attempt to gain an unfair advantage.
Why it happens
Cheating in school examinations in Papua New Guinea is common.  There are many reasons why cheating in examination occurs.

1. Poor Teaching:  Many teachers do not teach students well and frequent teacher absenteeism is common in many schools. Many schools close on Fortnight Thursdays and go to town for banking on Fridays through to Monday.  Three crucial days are wasted when teachers do their banking.  As such, much content is not covered and most teachers rush completing units /topics to prepare students for examinations.  Sometimes teachers may not complete the units/topics at all.  This can trigger cheating in examinations.

 

1. Unqualified Teachers :   There are instances that schools are recruiting unqualified university graduates   on the streets who are not teacher trained.  Such teachers may know the content but they lack pedagogical teaching skills.   This leads to poor teaching and incomplete covering of the content. 

 

1. Poor School Administration: Poor school administration can contribute to cheating in examinations.  Some school administrators compromise examinations for positions and for recognition.  In some parts of the country, there is a norm that if a school does well in examinations, the school is recognized and the administrators are promoted.  In such case, school administrators can compromise examinations and allow cheating to take place in their school  for self gain.  .

 

1. Isolation: Most schools are isolated and lack resources (teaching and learning materials).  Many isolated schools fear that town schools will outperform them in the national examinations.  Therefore, school administrators and teachers comprise the examinations and allow students to cheat.

 
 

1. Limited Space at Tertiary Institutions:   There are limited spaces at the tertiary level so the competition is high among schools and students.  Many schools want their students to be selected into tertiary institutions. Students also want to get to tertiary institutions so cheating occurs in order to meet the selection criteria.

 
How examination cheating happens
There are several ways examination cheating can take place.  First, school principals can compromise examinations and remove examination papers from their storage places. Develop the answer sheets prior to examinations and distribute the answers to students. Second, students can have access to examination papers and answer sheets prior to the examinations through linkage hotspots such as Measurement Services Division, Examination Printing Companies, Examination Developers/Writers, and Examination Freight companies, Provincial Examination Supervisors, School Principals and Teachers.
How cheating is detected
Examination cheating in some parts of the country is alerted through the public or sometimes through the media. The Measurement Services Division (MSD) of the Education Department monitors examinations strictly.  Cheating in examination is not new to MSD and they are very cautious when dealing with examination cheating.  They involve strict measures to crack down those involved in cheating in examination.   For instance, a Grade 12 student in particular school who sits at the bottom of the Grade in internal marks cannot claim that he or she can get 90- 100 full marks in the National Examinations.  If this does happen and if all students across the board do extremely well, MSD does analyze the actual examination scripts.  So please note that YOU WON”T RUNAWAY IF YOU CHEAT IN EXAMS as there are other tactics employed by MSD to track cheating.
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Consequences of cheating
Consequences of Cheating in examinations are:

•   No certification.
• No tertiary places/ spaces