By AS a young schoolgirl writing SSCE, I had the opportunity to cheat. I saw some of my classmates cheating with impunity. I remember that the day we wrote Literature, a student smuggled a textbook- Exam Focus- into the exam hall. He was not caught. I saw papers subtly flying around during exams.
The day we wrote the Mathematics exam, a fellow student offered to help me by passing a prepared answer on a sheet of paper to me. Although I was in a fix, I didn’t accept the help offer.
A diagrammatic illustration of the story courtesy of ChatGPT
My decision not to cheat was a personal one. I didn’t make that decision because I was better than the students that cheated, no. I made the decision based on the virtue that had been instilled in me in my previous school.
The proprietor of the private school I attended before then instilled a virtue of integrity in us, the students of the school.
He would announce at the assembly, “If you cheat, I will personally hand you over to the police. The punishment for examination malpractice is 21 years imprisonment. It is better to fail honourably than to pass through crooked means.”
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Those words were imprinted in my heart as a young girl. Even when I was withdrawn from the school at the verge of completing my secondary school education due to financial challenges, those words did not leave me. I believe in failing honourably than passing exams through crooked means.
Today, it breaks my heart when school owners, teachers, and parents collaborate to encourage and help students to cheat. This has raised many questions in my heart.
Where are the school owners whose only focus isn’t to maximise profit?
Where are the teachers who are genuinely concerned about the future of their students?
Where are the parents who are keen on raising godly children?
Where are they?
Where are you?
Where?
May God heal our land.
