Image
credit:
http://www.educationnews.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/india_cheating.jpg
Recently,
in Indian state of Bihar many students, parents, and police officers have been
arrested because they were engaged in cheating (Decarr, 2015). During the
examination of their children, parents gave money to police officers to let
them scale the walls of the building where their children were taking tests.
Parents scaled the walls hanging on window ledges and passed test answers to
their children (Decarr, 2015).
This kind
of problems come up due to various factors that are related to economic,
social, and educational systems of a state. Parents were encouraged to help
their children cheat and get higher scores because of scarce enrollment of
students to higher education institutions (Decarr, 2015). As far as Indians are known to be a
poor nation, it must be very difficult for parents to pay tuition fees of their
children. According
to education experts, the event mentioned above underlies several other issues
– “teacher absenteeism, an emphasis on rote learning, and
inadequate school infrastructure” that led to that incident (Decarr, 2015).
So, what
about Kazakhstan? All the issues and problems mentioned above are also common
for Kazakhstan. Rural areas mostly suffer from teacher absenteeism; rote
learning is still practiced in Kazakhstani schools; rural schools are not equipped
well to comply with studying environment. Kazakhstan also has UNT exam that lets
graduates of schools either study at HEIs or lose a year to take the exam
again, or apply for vocational education, which is not prestigious in
Kazakhstan, or go and find some spadework. Moreover, tuition fees of most local
universities are not affordable for most of the low and middle socio – economic
classes. If alike issues in India cause “parent involvement in cheating”,
accordingly that might also come up in Kazakhstani society. Thus, what do you
think about this issue? Are there any other issues that might have caused this
incident in India and that might occur in Kazakhstan?
Arailym, I absolutely agree with you that this problem does exist in our country, particularly in rural areas. Can we blame school staff for it? School staff encourage parents and children to cheat, because they are not sure if children will get higher results in UNT. Additionally, schools support cheating themselves due to the competition between schools and accountability.
ReplyDeleteIs it parents' fault to sustain cheating in standardized tests? They just want their children to obtain free grants because of the expensive education. Both school and parents have no idea that they are teaching childern to academic dishonesty. Is it illiteracy of our people? How can we increase the quality of education then? This is a serious issue...
In recent years, some important steps are being taken such as establishing cameras, inviting serious people from Ministry and National Security Committee to check the process of testing, etc. And these are helping somehow to get rid of cheating and corruption. Hope this issue will be totally adressed soon..
There is a good proverb in Kazakh: "Балық басынан шіриді" which means that fish rots from the head. I passed the UNT with high points, but I am positive that I will not be able to achieve good results without cheating. School graduates in Kazakhstan achiev good results not merely through cheating during the test. The points are sold be the officials as well, which is a well-known but highly ignored fact. For example, 117 points costed 2000 US dollars in 2006. If this issue is not solved then disturbing desperate parents and teachers is useless. Parents and teachers HAVE TO cheat for the sake of happiness of their children.
ReplyDeleteExcellent post! You do a good job shedding some light on the undoubtedly a large number of "hidden issues" under the question of cheating on standardized tests. I especially appreciate your clear and concise summary of the events in India followed by a connection to Kazakhstan. Consider revising into three paragraphs so you don't have any one-sentence paragraphs.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great point! This example shows how parents are worried about their childnren's success. This feeling is common to the majority of parents all over the world. Another thing is what makes them feel like this. In Kazakhstan, the UNT has already disproved the reasons for its existance but school graduates still have to take the exam because there is no other alternative to enter Kazakhstani universities/colleges. In this situation, I see children and their parents as victims of educational system which is hopefully being developed. As soon as students are taught how to investigate, to analyze, and to create, they will not have to cheat and make their parents worried so much.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Arailym!!!
ReplyDeleteThat is actual very honest of you! I totally believe that this kind of practice of parents' involvement in cheating is a norm in Kazakhstani society as well. The government makes too high scores in UNT in order to obtain scholarships, at the same time the cost of Higher education does not coincide with quality. So, some parents buy the results of UNT in order to get a free ticket to the grant. This issue I thing exist in many countries. And of course it is a drawback in the system of Education that must be solved.
Thank you for this wonderful post!!!!
I also think that it is a hot topic for Kazakhstan. Unfortunately, cheating has become a norm in most schools and universities in Kazakhstan. And as Almazhay mentioned, neither teachers, nor parents realize that they are teaching the students to academic dishonesty, which is equal to crime in developed societies. Consequently, students grow up believing that there is nothing bad in cheating if it helps you to achieve your goals. Moreover, I believe that it influences their slef-confidence in the long term, because students get used to highly relying on cheating that it would seem impossible to achieve high results by your own efforts. And such belief may remain true in later periods of life affecting their work ethic and other spheres of life as well. Considering such serious consequences of this problem, it is very important to address it in a comprehensive manner. All stakeholders, including parents, teachers and administrators both in schools and universities, government, as well as students should work together in addressing this issue. Public awareness should be raised.
ReplyDeleteArailym,
ReplyDeleteVery good topic! It is vital to discuss such issues, actually at national level! Once I had a conversation with a parent of an enrollee (abiturient), who was a gold medalist, but failed UNT! The mother was blaming the situation and commission and an emotional condition of her daughter while taking UNT. She says: "You know her problem was that she couldn't use cribs (shpargalka), and the teachers who promised to help, but couldn't!" Later I understood that there are hundreds of ways of cheating while this UNT examination is taken place. Everyone knows that this testing doesn't work at all, but it still in the system! I thought something is wrong there, my parents taught me never cheat, be honest and fair. But these parents and teachers approved the idea of cheating. May be tuition fee is the reason for that, but if secondary education of these children was higher, there wouldn't be any need to cheat!