© Kamla-Raj 2006 J. Hum. Ecol., 20(4): 295-300 (2006) Secondary Schools Student’s Perception of Examination Malpractices and Examination Ethics Azuka N.G. Alutu 1 and Oyaziwo Aluede 2 1. Department of Educational Psychology and Curriculum Studeis, University of Benin, Benin City, Nigeria 2. Department of Educational Foundations and Management, Ambrose, Alli University, PMB 14, Ekpoma 310001, Nigeria E-mail: oyaziwoaluede@yahoo.com KEYWORDS Academic Dishonesty. Examination Fraud. Students. School Success ABSTRACT Secondary school students’ perceptions of examination malpractices and examination ethics were assessed. The participants were drawn from Secondary Schools in the Benin Metropolis of Nigeria. The study revealed that majority of the students believed that their indulgence in examination malpractice was a common occurrence, which will be difficult to eradicate. Parents, teachers and school principals were found to encourage cheating in examinations. The study also revealed that majority of the students had a very wrong notion about examination ethics; believing that examination ethics entail among others sitting next to someone in order to copy from his/her paper in the examination hall. In all, counselling intervention strategies such as, school counsellors partnering with the school authorities and students to set up examination ethics clubs that will teach the virtues of hardwork; school counsellors partnering with parents/ teachers association and other significant others on strategies that would help to inculcate in them the virtues of “responsibility” were advocated. INTRODUCTION Evidence abound of increasing incidents of examination malpractices by students at schools and colleges; which conflict with the core purpose of education— the training of the mind and character for the acquisition of practical and theoretical skills, knowledge and functional ideas for development; and the search for truth and knowledge and the creation and communication of ideas (Nanna, 1997; Peterson, 1988, as cited in Aaron, 1992). In Nigeria, the first publicly reported case of examination malpractice occurred in 1914 when there was a leakage of question papers in the senior Cambridge local Examination. Ever since, there have been cases of irregularities reported on a yearly basis. But, the outstanding years were 1963, 1967,1970, 1973, 1977, 1979, 1981, 1985, 1987, 1991,1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,2002,2003 (West African Examination Council, 2004). The major forms of examination malpractice reported are: Impersonation; bringing in foreign materials (books, calculator); substituting worked scripts, stealing, converting, misappropriating scripts; collusion is the examination hall (copying); mass/organized cheating involving assistance from teachers and Address correspondence to: Dr. Oyaziwo Aluede outsiders; and insult/assault on supervisors/ invigilators (Oluyeba and Daramola, 1992). This trend in examination malpractices is inimical to academic development and advancement and needs to be drastically addressed. Examination malpractice is an illegal or unethical behaviour by somebody in the process of testing an examinee’s ability or knowledge by means of question (Ikupa, 1997). Oluyeba and Daramola (1992) remarked that examination malpractice include the following: examination malpractice is any irregular behavior exhibited by a candidate or anybody charged with the conduct of examination before, during or after the examination which contravenes the rules and regulations governing the conduct of such examination. Such examination malpractice will include any of the following: examination leakage, impersonation, cheating, collusion, swapping of scripts, smuggling of answer scripts in examination halls, result/certificate forgery, verbal/physical assault on examination adminis- trators. Similarly, Kibler (1988, as cited in Kibler, 1993) defined examination mal-practices as forms of cheating and plagiarism that involve students giving or receiving unauthorized assistance in an academic exercise or receiving credit for work that is not their own. Ethics therefore can simply be defined as laid down guidelines, rules and regulations, code or