Examination malpractices in Cameroon have been criminalised by various extant laws in the country. In this articles, I address the problem of examination malpractices and equally raise awareness on the various penal provisions which can be used to prosecute exam offenders under the penal code of Cameroon.
It is pertinent in this regard to note that any person who commits the offence and is guilty of the offence must be liable. Emphasis must be drawn to the fact that, subject of being a student or learner in any learning institution in Cameroon, the student is bound to adhere and respect all the laws of the said institution and those laws governing exams and failure of which will attract disciplinary sanctions.
It must be appreciated that examination malpractices are not only illegal, immoral and unacademical such acts are equally unprofessional and unethical. Exams malpractices are bad because they produce poor graduates and destroys the educational system of a nation. Another distructive component of this conduct is that it equally introduce students and learners to corrupt tendencies thereby killing the image of the institution as centers for knowledge production.
With regards to the glaring incidents of exams malpractices across Cameroonian institution of learning, the lawmaker in Cameroon have taken certain laudable steps to curb this unlawful conduct eating deep into the fabric of the educational system of the country. Exam malpractices are deeply entrenched in the Cameroonian society particularly administrative and competitive exams into institutions of higher learning. Across Cameroon, various forms of examination malpractices can be seen across state and private institutions. These offences are commited by both students and staff of these institutions. In a bid to stamp out this menace in the Cameroonian society, the Cameroonian legislator through the penal code has criminalised some of these acts. The legislator has done so through the general rules of punishment and the normal rules of professional conduct applicable to academic officials. It is therefore the responsibility of those managing and supervising exams in Cameroon to generally execute the process without any penal violations.
Haven said the above, it must be equally submitted that the Cameroonian legislator has not defined these offences as contained in the penal code but has merely described the manner through which such offences can be commited and the penalties which offenders shall be subjected to. Therefore, In an attempt to draw the meaning of some of these offences like cheating, exam impersonation and other malpractices, I would like to make reference to some literary authorities to source the meaning of some of these prohibited acts.
According to the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary, 7th Ed,(2006) at Pg 239, cheating has been defined as “deception or the act of dishonesty”. It would therefore seem that for one to be guilty of the crime of exams cheating, the courts must determine the act of dishonesty. More so, according to Elizabeth A. Martin & Jonathan Law, writing on the subject of cheating in the Oxford Law Dictionary, 6th Ed, (2006), at Pg 86, they define define cheating as “an offence at law. It is an act which deceit is required”. Usually, it is perpetrated with a dishonest intention especially those who cheat in exams. Cheating is equally a form of fraud espercially when the offender employs fraudulent means to obtain an unlawful benefit especially in an exam which is competitive in nature. It is important to indicate that cheating in exams in Cameroon is usually through the selling of examination question papers to candidates prior to the examination. This phenomenon within the academic milieux is usually practiced by students with the aid of academic staff.
As expressed before, exams fraud threatens the existence of learning and the existence of institutions not living out the competence of students and teachers. Today, across Cameroon, exams malpractices runs from primary, secondary, tertiary and vocational institutions.Besides, examination malpractices have infiltrated the ranks of lecturers who make gains from such practices. The effects of such are detrimental on the students and their teachers. In this wise, these students do not respect some of the lecturers noted for this practice because these lecturers compromise the process of exams by leaking the exams. It should be noted that lecturers and students caught in such can be prosecuted for tampering with the process and the integrity of the process. Across Cameroon, mostly female students obtain exam marks through sexual gratification and sometimes they are given questions papers prior to exams by male lecturers. For the male students, they buy the question papers or at times, some unethical lecturers give them the question papers to students when such students are their relations or friends. These lecturers give such favours to aid the beneficiaries perform better in the exams. Across Cameroon, some students go to the extend of hiring mecineries to write for them. Male students even write for their girlfriends as was the case of a certain male student who was caught writing for the girlfriend. The falsification of exam results and grades by staff and students is another act within the university system in Cameroon. Most students do this to get good GPAs inorder to graduate with honourable ranks. In the course of such, they are assisted by faculty clerks, unprofessional lecturers and non departmental teaching staff as is always the case.
In the light of the glaring accusations about the examination offences in the University of Buea August 2021, we humbly submit that any person who commits any of the above offences in Cameroon should be liable and punished accordingly.
It is important to note that the penal code of Cameroon is one of the legal instruments which has been used by the legislator to curb examination fraud within the academic setting within the country. The penal code of Cameroon sanctions various exam malpractices ranging from fraud at examinations under sections 163 and corruption in administrative and competitive exams or other exams under section 163-
(1) Per sections 163-1: of Law No 2006/007 of July 2016 relating to the penal code of Cameroon, it provides that, “whoever, through corruption facilitates the success or causes the failure of a candidate in an administrative competitive examination or other examination shall be punished with imprisonment for from 2 (two) to 5(five) years or with fine of from CFA 200 000 (two hundred thousand) to CFAF 2 000. 0000( two million) or with both such imprisonment and fine”.
(2) “Whoever through corruption declares successful one or more candidates who did not sit for an examination shall be punished as provided for in subsection 1 above”.
A reading of the above provisions shows that the Cameroonian lawmaker has granted powers to the Cameroonian judiciary to determine and sanction offenders of exam malpractices with imprisonment terms and financial awards. However, the burden of proving that someone is guilty of a crime or wrongful act is on the accuser. The law is that, if the commission of a crime by a party to any proceeding is directly in issue in any proceeding be it criminal or civil, it must be proved beyond reasonable doubt that the offender is guilty. It follows the well settled position in criminal law that “he who asserts must prove”. It is not enough for the prosecution to suspect a person of haven committed a crime when there is no evidence which links the person accused with the offence. Without going into the merits of the UB exam fraud case which maybe sub judice since the matter is before the competent courts, we must however state that the position taken by the prosecution to gather damming evidence against the suspects is in order to prosecute the matter is commendable. This will enable them prosecute their case probably leading to a soft landing if the prosecution had not gather sufficient evidence.
However, I must emphactically state here clearly that on their own volition, academic institutions in Cameroon lack the powers to try examination fraud incidents without going through the criminal courts. This is because criminal penalties can only be instituted by the courts as legislated by the legislature. Institutions of learning cannot determine exams malpractices with legislative penalties. What these institutions can do is to suspend the student or offender if the institution is satisfied that the student is guilty of the conduct. But before suspending the student, there must be an opportunity for fair hearing granted to the student. As stated supra, it should be noted that since the penal code of Cameroon sanctions exam malpractices, the powers to determine the guilt of students lies with the court of law and not these institutions. Therefore, university institutions accusing students or staff of exam offences can only prosecute staff and students in court as was held in the Nigerian case of Garba V. University Of Maiduguri( 1986) 1NWLR( Pt 18) 550 at 576. With emphasis on case law, the case of Sofekun V. Akinyemi( 1981) 1NCLR at 14 is equally illustrative, wherein the supreme court of Nigeria held that once someone is accused of a crime, he must be tried in a court of law where the complaint of his accusers can be ventilated in public and where he would be sure of getting a fair trial.... No other tribunal or investigating panel or committee will do. From the above, it can be argued that academic institutions in Cameroon or elswhere cannot sanction students beyond suspensions over aledged exam malpractices. The cases of Fatu V. Osemenam(2011) LPERL-CA/B/2033M/2004 and Esiaga v. UNICAL (2004) 7 NWLR(pt :872)366 are also illustrative.
It is my humble but respectful opinion that the approach taken by the university of Buea to hand over suspects for violating the provisions of the penal code and other extant rules of the university is very laudable. The judiciary in Cameroon should equally take legal measures to prosecute, sanction or punish such violators and deter future perpetrators of such acts which have destroyed Cameroon's educational system. It is important to highlight that the University of Buea has been noted for exam malpractices for the past years. According to Journal du Cameroun, the University of Buea suspended 17 students over exam fraud in 2020. These students were students of the faculty of law and political science. According to allAfrica.com, same institution caused the detention of her students in 2005 for exam fraud.
By way of conclusion, this article celebrates hadwork and I encourage students to work harder because hadwork alone will give them genuine success. In the midst of bad students within the university system, students should go to the university with the purpose of merit and obtain their grades and certificates without these malpractices. On the part of lecturers who engage in such, these lecturers must be indentified and prosecuted accordingly.
Ambe Kingsley N.
Bamenda, Cameroon