Somaliland National Examination cheaters have planned new ways of earnings their schools and themselves high marks. Technology is playing a great role for unbelievable cheating that happened the last national examinations for standard eight in elementary schools and standard four of secondary schools. Fake styles and copying from other students and passing notes have been replaced by smart phones which has offered Somaliland students opportunities to cheat on a whole new scale using what’s up social media by taking pictures and sending electronics messages to their teachers.
The conventional way of writing notes on the arm before the test and covering it under long-sleeved shirts is still practiced with abandon as this works well especially when concealing Math and science formulas. It is the ministry of education’s duty to counter this habit.
Another weakness that existed is that examiners have not also changed tact over the years by setting questions and answers in different ways and forms and even methods are not frequently developing, pupils are finding it easy to cheat nowadays because of technology and smart phones and the style of exam papers have not differed than the usual.
As I have heeded the Somaliland National Examination. I hear about cases of cheating and even worse. Many of pupils in the examination rooms just copy and paste data from examination answer papers which was earmarked for students to read before examination others were using what’s up social media by sending messages to their teachers and their older students to cheat the examination but what’s worse, some teachers and staff those who monitoring the examination where realized this but choose to turn a blind eye because some Teachers are going to exploit their position by biasing towards a certain group of student. If the situation of cheating of Somaliland National Examinations goes like this, students will learn less, and they will learn wrong things and even it may discourage bright students not to read. There are specific risks of cheating in the examination centers in our poor education control system including some teachers may sell advance information about examination some others may allow students to use technology such as what’s up to cheat. In Somaliland where there is low payment and weak supervision, teachers may not show up honest for their work.
Higher education, especially at the secondary level is of paramount importance for Somaliland’s future. Somaliland requires both highly trained people those who monitor the exam centers in order to be able to formulate cheating policies and implement it and CCTV cameras in order to monitor the exam centers.
By telling the truth for ourselves, Ministry of Education and its officials will take the greatest responsibility for the students’ cheating because there is no published social report to the level of cheating for Somaliland National Examination for all stakeholders in order to evaluate the situation. Teachers are partly to blame for students cheating because they have offered Somaliland students opportunities to cheat on a whole new scale by using what’s up social media and sending electronics messages to their students in examination centers.
All in All Technology has played a great role for unbelievable cheating that happened the last National Examinations for standard eight in elementary schools and standard four of secondary schools in Somaliland. Fake styles and copying from other students and passing notes have been replaced by smart phones which has offered Somaliland students opportunities to cheat on a whole new scale by using what’s up. For my advice ministry of education should face the problem of cheating in Somaliland and not to turn a blind eye. We need a great social awareness campaign against cheating and I say enough is enough no more cheating in Somaliland.
School exam cheats have devise new ways of earning themselves high marks, thanks to technology.
The traditional “long-sleeved shirt method” may still be effective in cheating during school exams and works well in winter, but devious pupils nowadays are continuously introducing novel methods by giving it a high-tech edge.
Fraudulent styles of cribbing, copying and passing notes have have now been replaced by computers and mobile phones which offer opportunities to cheat on a whole new scale by visiting websites and sending electronic messages.
The conventional way of writing notes on the arm before the test and covering it under long-sleeved shirts is still practised with abandon as “this works well especially when concealing Maths and science formulas,” some pupils say. To counter this habit, examiners have also changed tact over the years by setting questions and answers in different ways and forms. Although methods are frequently developing, pupils are finding it difficult to cheat nowadays as the style of exam papers have differed than the usual.
Copy and paste
“Exam papers are now focused into evaluating a student’s analytical and critical skills, in which some of these questions are not easy to cheat because one has to provide the entire process of reaching the final answer,” said M. K., a pupil at a public school.
“You still see and hear about cases of cheating and even worse, plagiarism. Many of my colleagues just copy and paste data from the internet for their projects and assignments and what’s worse, some teachers realise this but choose to turn a blind eye,” he added.
Another Grade 11 student said there will never be an end to cheating or new methods to doing it “even if it involves putting a student in an isolated room.”
Among the methods stated by pupils in Dubai is noting down data on their arms, palms, and between their fingers as well as passing notes. Female students have it all easy, as they hide phones, notes and other gadgets under their Shaila (headscarf) as it conceals their ears and neck.
Other methods involve sticking white papers underneath their sleeves or printing information from the computer then making a copy of the note using “toner based” photo copier. This is followed by sticking scotch tape on the note and dumping it in cold water after a few minutes the pupil peels off the scotch tape which has the data printed on it.
After drying the strip it can be glued to the exam paper where the invigilator will not notice it while the student is coping from it or the pupil can wrap the strip around a pencil or pen.
This method was provided by two Grade 10 pupils who got the tip from the internet and referred Gulf News to it.
Mohammad Al Mass, the Principal of Al Ma’aref Secondary School for Boys, said that if a pupil is caught cheating, he will not be allowed to complete his examination. The dishonest student will also be stopped from taking the rest of the tests.
Most exam cheating cases are resolved internally in the school with few exceptional cases referred to educational zones, councils or authority. “In case dishonesty in exam is reported, each case is handled individually,” said a senior official at the Education Ministry.
Thank you
Mohamoud Dahir Omar
Education Analyst
