Opinion: Breeding lazy future leaders in an examination lab
Today is one of those days where I feel like an absolute failure and try not to blame anyone for it.
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Today is one of those days when I feel less of a student and I look at the educational system with disdain.
Today is one of those days where I really wish I wasn't ghanaian and I am skilled in karate, and specialised in criminal law.
Today, few minutes ago, what was supposed to be an exam ended.
Well, I won't call it an exam entirely because it's a shame for me to classify what I just went through as an exam.
Now, I'm not hating on my school, I'm only speaking my opinion so my words here cannot be used as a standard for judging my school.
Why am I saying nothing in so many sentences, you might wonder.
I was supposed to write an exam today at 4:30pm till 7:30pm as seen on the official examination timetable but due to petty delays, I ended up starting after 7:00pm.
As if that isn't bad enough, I am supposed to write in these three days (today, tomorrow and Sunday),write five papers which isn't the norm especially for university students.
Even that isn't my worry.
What bothers my brain is how in an examination hall, invigilators can liase with students and have them copy from various mediums.
As I handed in my paper tonight ahead of time, I had only one fear.
It was the fear/uncertainty of whether to trust the invigilator enough with my paper.
I was afraid he might easily hand it over to another student to copy from.
Clearly, I'm not being paranoid.
I watch as students everywhere slowly are losing out on real learning. Right from the basic level to the highest level of education.
It comes as no surprise that the current batch of candidates for the Basic Education Certificate Examination have had all core subjects cancelled due to an overflow of leaked questions.
I use overflow because leaked questions are not new to the average ghanaian student.
Seems to me that a dire action was taken this time because there was 'apo'( local name for leaked questions) in excess and it would have caused the in- charge some discomfort to not do anything about the situation.
Slowly and sadly, I watch as my colleagues pride themselves in how smart they are in relation to sending in foreign materials to the examination hall without being caught. I don't really blame them.
They're all victims. Aren't we all?
Of a system so undisciplined that tolerates so much.
In the depth of my heart, I wish that when our paper delayed for several hours, the students would have risen and gone up to the authorities to query them for the delay and absolute waste of our time.
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I'm a coward, am I not? You think I could have stood up alone, don't you?
Now, I wish I had, but the stigma!
Oh we are blinded so much so that when we're in the wrong and someone seems to know the right path, we tend to single him out as the devil because we cannot see the big picture only he/she can.
I'm frustrated tonight. I'm sad and I'm in tears.
I wonder what the future would hold for all these students who learn nothing on their own and even when they bother to, it's directly from the handout of the lecturer and because they can't cram everything all at once, they put them on pieces of papers, in their purses, in their bras and underwears hoping to use them in the examination hall- and they always do.
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They are smart.
They're the straight A students who pour out the thoughts of the lecturer to him in writing.
They are the ones who receive the handshakes - first class graduates.
Zero productivity on the field. Low national productivity. Sinking economy. Poverty.
That's how it all starts.
Now ,if I were a criminal lawyer, I'd investigate my institution and several others.
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I'd take up cases against cheating students and have them sentenced for a while.
But , would the problem be solved?
I doubt this will solve it.
Isn't it embarrassing for the world to know that as a country, our students are not really learning?
That We rely heavily on getting the questions and answers to our exams before we officially write them?
That we are producing a nation which cannot think out of the box?
That our education system is quite lenient and can be bought at a price?
What more evidence do we need?
Now that we have calmly accepted for our children to rewrite even the B.E.C.E , does it not tell us the extent to which our education has failed us?