Unilorin Lecturer States Male Students Are More Likely to Cheat in Exams.

Unilorin Lecturer States Male Students Are More Likely to Cheat in Exams.

Onimisi Abdullah, an expert in education from the University of Ilorin’s Department of Social Science Education, has revealed that male students exhibit a higher tendency to cheat in examinations compared to female students. This finding was presented in his research paper titled, “A Psychological Perspective on the Systemic Inconsistencies in the Nigerian Educational System.”

The study aimed to explore the psychological development of students and examine the relationship between their backgrounds and cheating tendencies, focusing on students from Federal Universities in Nigeria. Abdullah’s research involved administering a 50-item developmental psychology test to 268 final-year students across different programs. After the initial test, students were given their unmarked scripts to self-grade, which provided them the opportunity to alter their answers.

The findings showed that 70.5% of the students displayed cheating behaviors, with male students being more prone to cheating than their female counterparts. Abdullah also found that cheating was more prevalent among students with lower academic abilities, as they were more motivated to cheat to improve their grades.

Despite the high rate of cheating, students expressed negative attitudes toward the act, creating a paradox. Abdullah recommended that alternative methods of assessing students’ learning outcomes, beyond written examinations, should be developed. He also called for the government to implement educational policies rooted in African values, moral principles, and ethics to better address the issue.