6th June, 2015
Harrison Iyoha
At least 30 students of the Lagos State Polytechnic, LASPOTECH are on the institution’s expulsion list for examination malpractice, P.M. NEWS Campus Square has gathered.
Students of the School of Part-Time Studies Regular (SPTSR) Ikorodu main campus are writing their first semester examination.
Our findings revealed that the affected students in all departments are already pencilled down for expulsion for engaging in exam malpractice in the course of writing their first semester examinations.
Our reporter gathered that no exam day passes without students entering the examination hall with ‘microchips’ and they are usuallys being caught by the eagle eyed internal/external invigilators who are always on the lookout for cheats.
As at last weekend when our correspondent was at the school, some students were seen begging their invigilators who caught them with microchips tuck in-between their thighs while some wrote answers on their palms with biro.
At the Olowogbowo Hall, P.M.NEWS Campus Square witnessed a scene where a pregnant woman caught cheating was rolling on the floor, asking for forgiveness.
She was not the only one caught in that hall. Two other students were also caught cheating and were all given malpractice form to fill.
As the exam started, the students began to copy from prepared answers they had written on their palms before a senior lecturer from the Department of Mass Communication-whom students had always accused of having magical prowess for exposing cheats- accosted and caught them.
Just when he stepped in, he pointed at the three of them to stand up and show their palms and instantly, the pregnant woman fell on the floor to start begging for forgiveness, a plea the lecturer refused to heed.
The three victims had answers written on their palms with biro and when caught, they were asked to place their hands close to their faces and a snapshot was taken of them and were also instructed to stretch their hands forward for another snapshot before they were asked to continue with their work as a malpractice form was awaited.
The same episode took place at the School of Technology classroom 9. A HND1 student from the Department of Mass Communication was caught with what was described by fellow students as “extreme”.
The lady, our reporter gathered, resumed for the semester two weeks before her first semester exam kicked off on 9 May.
Our reporter also gathered that she had no C.A in all the 8 courses offered in her class for this semester and when our reporter tried to speak with her as to what really happened she said her admission came late and she never knew academic activities had commenced since January and exam date was approaching.
It was discovered that she came with already prepared answers into the exam hall with two A-4 papers and the roving Alfa invigilator caught her and handed her over to the security officials who were around the hall.
A malpractice form was given to her to fill which she rejected and insisted that she should be forgiven as a first time offender.
After much arguments between the exam officials and the lady, the invigilator had to fill and sign the form on her behalf. This our reporter gathered,
would compound the fate that awaits her.
A student who would not want to be mentioned told our reporter that LASPOTECH is one of the terrible schools in Nigeria to enter the exam hall with prepared answers also known as ‘expo’.
“If you think you are smart and enter the exam hall with anything implicating, you will regret it and face the music. I really cannot say if they pray for students to enter the exam hall with ‘expo’ because the way they swoop on us inside the exam hall is something else.
“On Saturday, while we were writing our exam at the Computer Science Hall, a senior lecturer named Mr. Jerry came to our hall asking the internal invigilator if they had caught any student; that the outgoing rector was looking for whom to sign out.
“You can see why I said everything in this school looks like planned work? How can such a radical statement come from a man old enough to father many of us inside the exam hall?”
LASPOTECH operates a system where any student caught is never invited to face a panel on time, but allowed to pay school fee until he is approaching the final year before he would be invited to face exam committee.
If you are lucky, which is very unlikely, you get a slap on the wrist and where the odds are against you, which is always the case, you are asked to leave the school after wasting money and time.
P.M.NEWS Campus Square gathered that 20 students were sent packing from the school three semesters ago over exam malpractice. The students who were caught by invigilators during the examination were kept in the dark for more than two semesters before they were sent out of the school. Some of the students who were involved claimed that they were not given fair hearing while some claimed that they never faced any examination malpractice panel.
According to Anthony Iraya, a second year Mass Communication student, “I was caught with a piece of paper on the day we were writing Citizenship Education 2 last year. I tried to explain myself to the female invigilator that I wasn’t doing anything with the paper I was caught with but she wouldn’t listen to my explanation.
“The paper that I was caught with belongs to me but it happened that I forgot to dispose of it before entering the exam hall. It was during revision with other students that I was noting some points on the said piece of paper but never knew that the paper got stuck in-between my exam card and I went inside the exam hall with the paper.”
Anthony further said he never expected the fate that befell him because the woman who caught him promised to make him repeat the course. He said he consequently failed the course and was sent away from the school without any fair hearing.
PM NEWS Campus Square gathered that he paid N110,000 for his National Diploma 1 and had already bought textbooks for his National Diploma 2 before receiving the news of his expulsion.
Odejimi Olufela who was also affected has since stayed away from the school premises after being told of the latest development.
Another female student from the same Department of Mass Communication simply identified as Abbey was said to have been involved in a case of impersonation.
A Higher National Diploma 3 student was said to have sat for the exam on her behalf on the day she wrote her Yoruba examination. The student who sat for her was caught by a senior lecturer who claimed the student was not supposed to be in the hall for the course.
The impersonator refused to disclose the identity of the person he was sitting for until he got his own letter of expulsion.
A senior lecturer who does not want his name mentioned, said the students were lucky the school decided their fate on time. He cited an instance where the school did not say anything and waited until the student was preparing for his graduation before a letter was handed over to him.