LAGOS, Nigeria– In an unique effort to curb academic dishonesty, the Dean of the School of Environmental Studies at Yaba College of Innovation (YABATECH), Dr. Aladeloba, has presented a 1 million reward plan designed to prevent trainees from taking part in assessment malpractice.
Speaking in a special interview with reporters on Monday in Lagos, Aladeloba exposed that the effort, tagged the ‘War Against Examination Crime’ (WAEC) Award, is structured to prevent assessment offenses by fulfilling departments whose students preserve a tidy academic record throughout an entire academic session.
The Dean clarified that the acronym for the college’s internal initiative is completely unique from the West African Senior School Certificate Evaluation (WASSCE) performed by the West African Examinations Council (WAEC).
Reward Framework and Inaugural Winners
Detailing the mechanics of the job, Aladeloba discussed that the initiative concentrates on proactive avoidance instead of relying solely on punitive procedures after offenses have occurred.
Under the criteria, any department within the school whose trainees are not mentioned before the School Assessment Malpractice Investigation Committee (SEMIC) automatically becomes eligible for the financial grant.
“The concept is to prevent examination malpractice instead of focus just on penalty. If there are no cases, the committee will have little or no work to do.”
The maiden edition of the award event occurred on June 24 following a strenuous, two-semester evaluation of trainee conduct across all seven departments within the School of Environmental Researches.
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Out of the participating professors, 2 departments emerged effective:
The two winning departments jointly shared the 1 million prize money. Especially, the funds existed straight to the respective department trainee associations rather than the heads of departments, highlighting that the monetary reward comes from the trainee body for upholding scholastic stability.
Social Dangers of Academic Scams and ‘Miracle Centres’
Emphasizing the broader social implications of scholastic dishonesty, Aladeloba categorized assessment malpractice as a crucial crime that jeopardizes expert competence and public security.
He warned that individuals who obtain credentials through deceptive methods posture extreme dangers to human life when placed in technical fields such as medication, engineering, and structure construction.
The Dean expressed issue over the societal fascination with paper credentials in Nigeria, keeping in mind that the unnecessary focus on certificates has fuelled the proliferation of prohibited evaluation centers frequently known as “wonder centres.”
He called on pertinent government and security firms to strongly target and prosecute operators of such centres, while advocating for a systemic shift in the national education framework from mere paper credentials towards verifiable competence, technical skills, and practical value creation.
In this regard, he applauded current Federal government initiatives aimed at focusing on professional training and skill acquisition.
Institutional Impact and Wider Adoption
According to the Dean, the intro of the WAEC Award has actually currently produced healthy peer accountability amongst trainees, with numerous department leaderships actively urging their peers to avoid cheating in order to receive future editions.
Aladeloba expressed optimism that the preventive benefit design could act as a scalable framework for other tertiary institutions throughout Nigeria seeking to maintain academic standards and remove examination misbehavior.