Ghostwriting which is a reprehensible act of contracting someone to sit examination on one’s behalf is totally unacceptable in the conduct of the Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination (UTME).
In recent times, the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) has vehemently
mounted a rigorous campaign to rid the society of the menace of examination malpractice perpetrated by ghostwriters for financial gains. Startling revelations from the 2019 UTME have demonstrated clearly that this nefarious act is a widespread practice in many public examinations and negatively impacting the credibility and integrity of these examinations.
Taking any examination without the active participation of the client (candidate) is a fraudulent act and an ethical breach, which can rob the candidates of the confidence in their ability to learn as well as in developing lifelong learning skills.
The rate at which ghostwriters and their clients indulge in this form of impersonation is alarming as it puts the examinations and the country in an embarrassing position because the process promotes laziness and laxity among candidates and erodes the reading culture, among others.
With the state-of-the-art technology at the disposal of the Board, it is now possible to unmask these individuals while the results of these unholy collaborations, which are at times sponsored by parents, are cancelled summarily.
The unmasking of these fraudulent characters is a culmination of the technological-driven transformations that the Board has deployed in recent times to facilitate the seamless and transparent conduct of the UTME.
In the same vein, the apprehension of a substantial number of ghostwriters who were contracted to take the 2019 UTME on behalf of some candidates was quite exemplary. This discovery was made possible with the aid of credible pre-emptive intelligence reports and cutting-edge technology.
The arrested suspects have been arraigned and some convictions secured in various courts and it is the candid expectation of the Board that in the other cases too justice would not only be done but adequately done in such a way that it will serve as a deterrent to other would-be suspects.
In the meantime, the Board is currently fine-tuning its biometric capturing technology to ensure that many of those who may harbour the intention of ghostwriting are caught and dealt with at the point of registration.
Parents are also urged to advise their wards against toeing this inglorious path as it will only lead to humiliation as the Board has put in place appropriate mechanism to identify ghostwriters before, during and after the examination.
