What you need to know:
- A school that helps a child cheat may help them pass an examination, but it risks failing them in life.
Every examination season, parents entrust schools with a responsibility that goes beyond helping children pass examinations. We expect schools to equip learners with knowledge, skills, and values that will prepare them for life. Yet this trust is betrayed when teachers or school administrators deliberately facilitate examination malpractice to secure impressive results.
In Uganda, where examination results can influence a child's next educational opportunity, the temptation to secure high grades can be considerable. We have seen the Uganda National Examinations Board (Uneb) withholding results for some schools because of examination malpractice. However, when schools choose dishonesty, children often become the biggest losers.
A school may celebrate excellent results, attract new admissions, and earn praise from parents. But what happens when those results do not reflect what the learners actually know? A child who advances without mastering essential skills may struggle at the next level.
Worse still, when adults help children cheat, they risk teaching them that dishonesty is acceptable as long as it produces the desired outcome.
Some schools or teachers face pressure from directors, especially in private schools, and parents who expect their children to excel, competition from neighbouring institutions, and the desire to maintain a good public image. These pressures, however, cannot justify breaking examination rules.
Under Uganda's examination framework, malpractice can lead to serious consequences, including cancellation of results and other sanctions. A school's attempt to protect its reputation could, therefore, damage the very candidates it claims to serve.
What must schools do differently? First, head teachers, directors and proprietors must establish a clear zero-tolerance policy on examination malpractice. Teachers should understand that leaking examination materials, supplying unauthorised answers or assisting candidates to cheat is unacceptable, regardless of the pressure to produce good results.
You have already done a lot of regular revision, supervised practice examinations, remedial lessons, teaching, and assessment throughout the year. Let children do their best; avoid malpractice that puts all of you at risk.
Parents also have a responsibility. When choosing a school, they should look beyond examination rankings and impressive advertisements. They should ask how the school supports struggling learners, monitors teaching quality, and maintains examination integrity.
During examination season, parents should discourage children from seeking leaked papers, paying for unauthorised assistance, or sharing suspicious examination materials through WhatsApp groups. If someone promises guaranteed results through secret arrangements, parents and children should recognise this as a serious warning sign.
Uneb, school inspectors and other responsible education authorities must continue strengthening examination security, monitoring compliance and investigating credible reports of malpractice. The challenge is that some of them are bribed by the very schools they are monitoring or scouting.
Reporting channels must also be accessible and trusted. Parents, teachers and candidates who witness suspected malpractice should know how to report it safely to the relevant authorities. Allegations should be assessed fairly, evidence protected and investigations conducted without intimidation or premature public accusations.
When malpractice occurs, children should not automatically be treated as equally responsible. Some may have participated knowingly; others may have been pressured or manipulated by adults they trusted. Responses should consider the evidence, the applicable rules, and each person's role, while protecting candidates' rights.
Schools should also provide confidential ways for staff and learners to raise concerns without fear of retaliation. Honest teachers must be supported when they refuse to participate in wrongdoing.
As our candidates sit their examinations, schools and families have an opportunity to reaffirm what education should stand for. Our children deserve qualifications earned through genuine effort, not results manufactured through deception. A school that helps a child cheat may help them pass an examination, but it risks failing them in life.
The responsibility rests with all of us to protect the integrity of education and ensure success means something beyond the marks on a results slip.
Written by Dickson Tumuramye, executive director of Hope Regeneration Africa. tumudickson@gmail.com