A network of staff, colluding with students to leak examination question papers, has taken the centre stage within the Department of Mass Communication of the Kaduna Polytechnic (Kadpoly). This report, grounded in interviews with ex-students of the department and some lecturers, reveals the intricate relationship between staff and students. It unearths a police report that links examination paper leakage to some staff of Kadpoly, one of Northern Nigeria’s prestigious learning institutions, and raises questions on why the school’s management is yet to take action.
Maimuna Kabir (not real name) believes she was unjustly treated by the senate of Kadpoly. In November, 2023, the senate withdrew her Higher National Diploma (HND) certificate three months after she was mobilised for the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC). She was one of 17 students of the Department of Mass Communication that were expelled by the management of the polytechnic over alleged examination malpractice. The school alleged that she was part of a network of students connected to the leakage of examination question papers for HND1 and HND2 in November, 2022.
One year after the 17 students faced a school panel and the Kaduna State Criminal Investigative Department (CID), they were expelled in November, 2023.
Maimuna, however, maintained her innocence: “I almost went crazy. Sometimes I wish the floor will open to swallow me,” she told Daily Trust on Sunday in February. However, when most of the 17 students ran to the media, a scandal ensued and the institution, in March, reversed the expulsion.
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Meanwhile, some lecturers from the department said examination malpractice was deeply rooted in what appeared to be a collaboration between some students, ex-students, and staff.
In this investigation, Daily Trust on Sunday revealed that years of malpractice through the leakage of examination question papers have cast a shadow over the credibility of a school that has in the last 68 years earned a name as one of the biggest higher institutions in Northern Nigeria.
How the 2022 malpractice occurred
On November 2, 2022, Maimuna, then an HND1 student, and hundreds of other students from the department sat for their first-semester examination.
“Eight days into the exam, a question paper for ‘online journalism’ was leaked in our WhatsApp group,” she said.
The leaked question paper was said to have been posted by a female student identified as Amina Koroka, who multiple sources said immediately deleted it. But she was not fast enough for students with GB WhatsApp; a version of WhatsApp that allows users to download deleted messages. The students downloaded the leaked question paper and began to circulate it.
Read more: https://dailytrust.com/how-leaked-examination-questions-rocked-kaduna-polytechnic/