POWER OF TECHNOLOGY...56 STUDENTS SANCTIONED FOR CHEATING IN EXAMS WITH WHATSAPP

Results of the licensing examination of 56
nursing trainees of the Holy Family Nursing and
Midwifery Training College in Berekum in the
Brong Ahafo have been cancelled.
This is because the students were found to have
cheated in the examination hall using the
whatsapp platform on their phones during the
examination.
They are said to have taken pictures of the
question papers, sent them to an external
collaborator who answered them and then sent
the answers back to the students in the
examination hall via whatsapp.
The college has been de-recognised by the
Nurses and Midwives Council (NMC) as an
examination centre for three years while the
students will not be permitted to write the
licensing examination for two consecutive times.
According to Mr. Felix Nyante, the Registrar of
the NMC, the students were found to have
cheated in the examination hall after the
mobile phone one of them had smuggled into the
examination hall had fallen from her panties
onto the floor of the hall.
He said the decision of the Council to sanction
the students was based on the fact that they
flouted the NMC’s rules, which included
“bringing foreign materials into the examination
hall, collusion and mass cheating”.
Eighty-nine students sat for the August 2014
Registered General Nursing (RGN) Licensing
Examination.
However, the results of 33 students have been
released, after they had been absolved of any
wrongdoing in the conduct of the examination.
A copy of the NMC report on examination
malpractice at the Holy Family Nursing and
Midwifery Training College, signed by Mr. Nyante
and made available to the Daily Graphic, said
after the chief invigilator had provided
photographic evidence of correspondence
between the students and an external
collaborator, a team of consultants were tasked
to investigate and ascertain the extent to which
the candidates involved benefitted.
“The consultants made the following findings: A
whatsapp platform was set up for the purpose of
cheating during the August 2014 RGN Licensure
Examination.... It was clear from the resources
provided for this investigation and our analyses
that candidates were able to enter the
examination room with phones with which they
took pictures of pages of question papers and
received whatsapp feedback,” it said.
In addition, the report, among other things,
said the candidates, who benefitted from the
whatsapp activity, received help from outside
the examination room, and that key among
those who provided the help were people with
names or code names such as Quophi Ferty,
Killer, Ma Florence.
Following the consultants’ recommendations, the
matter was reported to the Examination
Subcommittee of the Governing Board of the NMC
on December 3, 2014 for consideration.
At an emergency governing board meeting on
December 9, 2014, “the board analysed the
consultants’ report and resolved that adequate
evidence exists to prove that some candidates of
the NMTC, Berekum, engaged in examination
malpractice... the consultants’ report was,
therefore, ratified by the board”.
However, the board decided that, in accordance
with the principle of natural justice, an
opportunity be given to the candidates to tell
their side of the story, the report said.
A meeting was, therefore, held at the Osu
Ebenezer Presby Hall in Accra on December 18,
2014 for the candidates to be heard.
“At the meeting, evidence gathered from the
whatsapp platform that was created for the
examination malpractice was shown to the
candidates for scrutiny. This was followed by a
general question regarding what each candidate
knew about the evidence provided.
“Initially, majority of them feigned ignorance
about the evidence provided. However, upon
further probing, they changed their stance, with
the explanation that they did not understand
the question,” the report said.
According to the report, “Mr. Appiah and Ms.
Saudatu, who had earlier confessed their
culpability, owned up. Other candidates also
declared their involvement in receiving help
from the whatsapp platform during the
examination”.
To deal with the problem of students smuggling
phones into examination halls in their
underwear and panties, Mr Nyante said the
council had acquired a metal detector which
would be used to screen the students
adequately, “since our invigilators cannot put
their hands everywhere for fear of being
accused of sexual harassment”.