Date Published: 01/18/10

Missing Answer Script, ‘Sorting’, and Sex for Marks in Our Universities: Matters Arising By Nwaorgu Faustinus Chilee

Our citadels of learning have in the recent past and even now been awash with vile practices orchestrated on one hand by undergraduates who do not take their studies seriously and on the other, by lecturers who compromise their integrity for ephemeral financial gratification. The issue of sex for marks, missing answer scripts and ‘sorting’, (bribe) as is often called on our campuses will perpetuate if nothing is done to curb it.   

As an undergraduate in one of the Private Higher Institutions but now a graduate, I was able to observe either the undergraduate bribes the lecturers in cash or ‘kind’, that is sex for marks which is often  practiced by female undergraduates, some lecturers whose integrity are still intact insure that any undergraduate that fails their courses do carry them over, others who have questionable character would dare the devil by going all out to ask covertly or overtly for financial gratification or sex to pass an undergraduate. What an ignoble act!

On the subject of sex for marks, some female undergraduates on the reception news of their awful performance in a course and on confirmation are usually the first to offer their bodies since they cannot afford to pay in cash or go on prostitution spree to raise the necessary fund to bail themselves out. 

Another matter that has often pricked and agitated my mind is ‘missing answer scripts’ in our universities. Stories abound how undergraduates after writing their exams having signed in and out, before and after the commencement of the exams later found out they were not scored any marks on the courses they sat for. Peter Iriegbu and Nnamdi Ihuonu former undergraduates of Our Saviour Institute of Science, Agriculture and Technology Enugu (OSISATECH) were once the victims of this man’s unkindness to fellow man, courtesy of the then Head of Department of Mass Communication one Mrs. Cynthia  Chude who has been shown the way out.     

There is no illness without a cause. The question now is how did we get to this sorry state in our higher institutions? Poor primary and secondary school background is a contributive factor. Tell me how a secondary school leaver who made his papers (SSCE, GCE, NABTEB etc) as a result of examination malpractice can do well academically in the event of his or her admission in university. Your position is as good as mine. What more, to overcome retaking the courses failed, cutting corners through ‘sorting’ becomes a veritable option for the academically deficient ones.

In addition, the issue of engaging in unwholesome activities on campus to wit; cultism, intermittent night clubbing, prostitution etc, to the neglect of seriously studying, no doubt has played great role in aiding and abetting sorting of courses failed in our universities. There is no way anyone (an undergraduate) who is neck-deep into the above social vices can make any headway in his or her academic endeavour. Some time ago, a national newspaper wrote how our female undergraduates advertise and hawk their bodies to the highest bidder in, around and outside the shores of the universities. It is most unlikely for such people as these to pass their courses, since the better part of their time has been dedicated to prostitution, lesbianism, and so on. In a bid to remedy their academic deficiencies, they locate and bribe lecturers who have sold their integrity to the dogs with proceeds of their illicit acts.

Some lecturers cannot be fully exonerated from sex for marks, sorting or missing answer scripts. Some are directly or indirectly involved in these damning acts. If not tell me why some of them should make known the marks scored by the undergraduates to them before it is pasted for all to see, if not to create advance awareness and advertisements for those who did not do well to beg for marks either in cash or kind. It is important to note that the purchase of a few lecturer’s handouts or textbooks goes a long way to determine who will pass the lecturer’s course not minding that there are similar textbooks in the library that are read by undergraduates. In the event of not purchasing the lecturer’s specified handout or textbooks, one considers himself or herself as having already failed the lecturer’s course. This also accounts for ‘sorting’.   

 Nwaorgu Faustinus Chilee,  a scio-political commentator writes from Igboeche, Port Harcourt, Rivers state,