De-register cheating schools, says MUK don
Nov 12, 2006
SCHOOLS got cheating or implicated in examinations malpractice should be closed permanently, a senior Makerere University don, Prof. Eli Katunguka -Rwakishaya, has recommended.
By Patrick Jaramogi
SCHOOLS got cheating or implicated in examinations malpractice should be closed permanently, a senior Makerere University don, Prof. Eli Katunguka -Rwakishaya, has recommended.
Katungunka, the director School of Graduate Studies, told Education Vision after opening a five-day curricular development workshop at Hotel Brovad Masaka on Monday, students should also be discontinued and prosecuted.
“It is very wrong to cheat. Schools got cheating should be de-registered and closed and the students should be punished in the heaviest way possible. The Ministry of Education and the National Council for Higher Education should find an immediate solution to this,†he said.
“It all starts from the decaying moral fibre. Teachers don’t teach while those who teach are not paid by the school proprietors and with the cut-throat competition for money and first grades from private schools, the situation only gets worse,†he said.
Katunguka, who said the review of the curricular is underway, said cheating should be taken as a scandal.
Reports were rife during the just concluded PLE and the on-going UCE exams that examinations massively leaked.
Over 30 people had by the end of the week been arrested in connection with examination malpractice, theft and cheating.
Prof. Katungunka said that cheating was a usual norm even at Makerere University where students say, “cheating is not bad but it is bad if you are caughtâ€.
He said of Makerere cheating students, “The ones who cheat in primary, secondary and A’ level are the very ones who cheat at university. That is why I recommend very stiff punishments for such students and I am opposed to university council which tends to forgive or give lighter punishments to first offenders.†He said the curriculum should be developed to ease tension during examinations as a way of averting cheating.
“Currently, we are underway to phase out the less demand-driven courses from universities and pave way for competitive and job creating ones.
“We are following instructions from The National Council for Higher Education to review the curriculum and we are immediately having curriculum development workshops to address that request,†he said.
Ends
SCHOOLS got cheating or implicated in examinations malpractice should be closed permanently, a senior Makerere University don, Prof. Eli Katunguka -Rwakishaya, has recommended.
Katungunka, the director School of Graduate Studies, told Education Vision after opening a five-day curricular development workshop at Hotel Brovad Masaka on Monday, students should also be discontinued and prosecuted.
“It is very wrong to cheat. Schools got cheating should be de-registered and closed and the students should be punished in the heaviest way possible. The Ministry of Education and the National Council for Higher Education should find an immediate solution to this,†he said.
“It all starts from the decaying moral fibre. Teachers don’t teach while those who teach are not paid by the school proprietors and with the cut-throat competition for money and first grades from private schools, the situation only gets worse,†he said.
Katunguka, who said the review of the curricular is underway, said cheating should be taken as a scandal.
Reports were rife during the just concluded PLE and the on-going UCE exams that examinations massively leaked.
Over 30 people had by the end of the week been arrested in connection with examination malpractice, theft and cheating.
Prof. Katungunka said that cheating was a usual norm even at Makerere University where students say, “cheating is not bad but it is bad if you are caughtâ€.
He said of Makerere cheating students, “The ones who cheat in primary, secondary and A’ level are the very ones who cheat at university. That is why I recommend very stiff punishments for such students and I am opposed to university council which tends to forgive or give lighter punishments to first offenders.†He said the curriculum should be developed to ease tension during examinations as a way of averting cheating.
“Currently, we are underway to phase out the less demand-driven courses from universities and pave way for competitive and job creating ones.
“We are following instructions from The National Council for Higher Education to review the curriculum and we are immediately having curriculum development workshops to address that request,†he said.
Ends