Students hire coursework mercenaries as they party

Jan 09, 2012

Coursework is a vital part of college or university education. It contributes a percentage towards the student’s final grade. But not every student fancies the idea.

By Vision Reporter

Coursework is a vital part of college or university education. It contributes a percentage towards the student’s final grade. 

Lecturers give students take-home coursework assignments to do over a period of time that could range from one week to three weeks, before submission.

During this period, a student is expected to carry out research on the topic, which involves going to the library, reading various academic textbooks and using specified academic referencing styles.

Lecturers expect a student to put in a lot of effort to do the assignment. As a result, the submitted coursework is usually more than five pages and typed out. 

However, these days many students abhor going to the library and reading textbooks. Instead, they prefer spending hours in social events that may include visiting friends, going to the salon to plait hair or spending night outs at discotheques.

As a result, they hire people to do coursework assignments for them. In reality, other people are behind the grades and the long essays that students eventually hand in.

Recently, our undercover reporter forged a coursework assignment for a 3rd year student and took it to Wandegeya to see whether anyone could do it for her. Here is her story.

Forged question 

On a hot Wednesday, I stormed Wandegeya with a forged question on a piece of paper, and moved from one place to another, in search of someone to write my coursework, without bothering myself to open a single book.

A boda boda dropped me in Wandegeya, near Makerere University. Nearby, I saw a secretarial bureau.

I entered and asked the lady who was typing away and wearing a serious face whether it were possible for her to write my coursework. I told her I was too busy to visit the library. 

“We do not offer such services. We only type the already written coursework,” she said.

As she was showing me students’ courseworks, her colleague in the corner politely asked me which course I were doing. I told her that I was a 3rd year business administration student.

“I know someone in Kansanga, but he is expensive,” she said. She gave me someone’s number and told me that if the assignment was urgent, I should call him. 

When I called the gentleman, he was not in town, but directed me to an Internet café in one of the city suburbs. At the café, I found so many students ‘face-booking’, while others played solitaire on computers. 

I approached a light-skinned guy who was swinging in a chair and asked him to help me do my coursework. I told him I was busy with office work and had no time for research.

He introduced himself as Remy and asked me which course I was doing at campus. I told him I was doing education.

He looked at the question and assured me that I was going to have quality coursework and that other students would consult me to find out which books I had used. We smiled at each other and he told me to go back at 4:00pm with sh10,000. As I left, he asked me how many pages I wanted. I told him four would be enough. 

 Mission continues 

I left and continued with my mission. On my way to another Internet café, I met one of my old school friends. If I remember very well, I was in S.6 when she was in S.4. 

I asked her what course she was doing. “BLIS,” she said. I told her that she was God-sent because I was also doing my masters in BLIS (Bachelor of Library and information Science), but did not have time do my coursework. 

I told her I was looking for someone who could help me out. “How much are you willing to spend?” she asked. I told her I had only sh10,000. 

“I would have done it for you, but you are giving peanuts,” she said. 

I tried to bargain as an old friend, but she could not take any of that. She gave me her number and told me to call her later if I got ‘serious dime’. When we separated, I pressed the delete button. 

I did not want anything to do with her.

I moved on and entered a well-painted small room with two computers and a photocopier. 

I asked a young man, who seemed to be busy on the computer, whether it was possible for him to do for me research and write my assignment. 

“We do not do coursework here, but go to that Internet café and ask for Sam,” he said.

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A graphic illustration of how the deal is executed.

Team of consultants 

I marched to the café and asked for Sam. He was outside writing down a student’s coursework. I greeted him and explained my problem. “Which course are you doing,” he asked. 

I showed him a paper that showed I was a 3rd year Mass Communication student. He looked at the question and told me it was easy to do. “How many pages do you want,” he asked.  

“Pay sh30,000 and your work will be ready by 11:00am,” he assured me.

I told him I did not have enough money on me. He told me to pay a deposit and I gave him sh3,000.

As we talked, I found out that he does courseworks for other unserious students like me, who do not have time to attend lectures, but want better grades. He was doing coursework for a female literature student, who was asked to write a feature story of 500 words about any topic of interest. 

I asked him how he was going to finish my work in time, yet he had so many courseworks to work on.

“We are a team of knowledgeable people and we work hard to beat students’ deadlines. Our goal is to make you pass,” he boasted.

Since I had to get more people to write my coursework, I continued looking around. I went to another secretarial bureau and asked if anyone could help me. They all looked at me like I was lost and told me to try next door. Here, there were guys making noise and talking about Christmas. I asked one who seemed serious to find out whether he could do my work. “Which course?” he asked. I told him I was doing bachelor of arts in development economics. 

“Let me call Ddumba,” he said. On phone, he informed him that he had got a kyeyo. I think Ddumba was not in town or he was busy.

So, he called another person. Within 10 minutes, the man, whom I later came to learn was called Yasin, had already arrived. I gave him the question, he looked at it and asked me how much I was willing to pay. I told him sh10,000. “No, this needs a lot of research. Make it sh25,000,” he said.

I told him I would pay when I returned to pick the work. “Come back on Friday,” he said. 

I moved around Wandegeya and got other people willing to do my coursework. In most of the places I visited, they would call students to come and help me, especially with science courseworks. 

At 4:00pm, I called Remy reminding him that I was going to pick my work. “I was not able to finish, come back tomorrow at 11:00am,” he said. 

Very early on Thursday, I called Sam and told him that I was coming to pick my coursework. “Come at 9:30am,” he said.

It was around 10:00am, Sam called me and told me to hurry and pick my coursework because he was going somewhere. I jumped onto a boda boda and within 20 minutes, I was in Wandegeya. When I arrived, I found him waiting for me with my coursework. 

However, the first page had mistakes. He had typed a different question, but it was similar to mine and he had misspelt my lecturer’s name. I told him about the errors and he was willing to type another page. 

I gave him sh30, 000 and asked for my deposit. I asked him if it was possible for my friend doing law to take her coursework assignment. “I told you we do all kinds of courseworks,” he said. 

I also asked whether he does not produce the same work for different students. “We are skilled. We cannot make that mistake. No one has ever complained,” he assured me.

After getting my coursework, I called Remy and told him I was in Wandegeya. He told me to call later because he was in a salon. I then called Yasin who was doing my economics assignment. “Madam, I am sorry. Call me back in the evening,” he said. 

To test the mercernaries’ work, I took my mass communication assignment to a lecturer who volunteered to mark it after telling him it was done by mercenaries. He said the work was well done with all the references. At around 5:00pm on a Friday, Remy called me to pick my other work. On reaching there, he was not around, but he had left my work with his colleague. I paid and left.

Yasin called that afternoon and I told him I wanted four pages, but he gave me five instead. He apologised for the delay and told me someone had been was using the textbook he wanted to use. 

Within three days, I had my course work done without stressing my brain.

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