Kayole Schools Set New Order, Exam Leaking

By Benard Adera
Secondary school students in Kayole are able to obtain examination papers several hours or days before the papers are sat. Darasa Times has reliable learnt as the end of term one examinations start.
Crave for good grades on the side of students and quick money on the side of staff has seen morals dropped and examination handling commercialized in schools. Students are said to buy examination papers from the school secretaries in charge of exam typing and printing to revise ahead of the exam to boost their grades. On the other hand, those handling the examination papers are willing to leak the papers to the students to add an extra coin in their pockets. In some other cases, teachers even revise the exam with their students; behind the back of the school management, to boost their performance so as to secure their jobs. This is said to be the order of the day in most of the academies and informal schools where teachers’ pay and job security are pegged on the grades they produce.
A teacher in one of the schools in which Darasa learnt that exams are deliberately made available to students by teachers confirmed the vice in his school but asked his name be concealed. Said he: “It is an open secret that exams are leaked to students by teachers. In some cases it is done with the full knowledge of the school management to inflate students’ grades so as to appease parents to keep their children in the school. Teachers can also organize themselves to leak exam to please the school management.” He noted that teachers’ poor pay was a major factor in growing the habit of exam cheat.
Investigations by Darasa Times have established that lack of preparedness on the side of the students owing to inadequacy of learning materials, especially for science subjects is one among other factors which put examination cheating high on students’ agenda. Most schools operating in Kayole lack even the most basic laboratory apparatus such test-tubes.
A school principal who spoke to Darasa on phone but also asked his name not to be mentioned said that cutthroat competition among schools for a bigger student population has seen fees charged by the schools reduced so low that the schools operate on tight budgets. “Much of the money we get is put in advertising the school, paying teachers and paying rent for the school block. These are what we give priority as the school cannot do without them. That is why things like laboratory equipment rank low in priority,” he said.