Education is the central foundation of the nation and in Namibia, the education ministry gets the most significant share of the budget.
Still, if low education standards and cheating are allowed to prevail where some people do assignments for others from year one to the end, even up to PhD level, then we have a big problem. Imagine what sort of teachers, nurses, pharmacists, engineers, etc. we will have. In order for us to produce excellent students and for them to spread the same knowledge, especially in education, then students have to do their own work without someone else doing their assignments or writing
tests on their behalf.
This is mostly done when it comes to online classes. Yes, a lot has been done with regards to access education, but we have forgotten the principle of equality. How efficient are the online courses? In most cases, if not always the case, 50% of the students grab this chance for them to get work somewhere and end up
hiring someone to write for them their assignments or their tests. After all, there is no rule asked for submission.
It is unethical for someone to do an assignment on behalf of another person. The reason why students are given assignments to do is for them to learn and know what is expected of them to do in their field of studies, and to demonstrate that they have achieved the learning goals. Education should be taken seriously; students must be held accountable for their own degrees; and successes should be celebrated, knowing very well that you are the person behind your own
achievements.
Students must enjoy what they are doing, but not be forced to do fields of study that they do not enjoy. At the end of the day, they will end up misleading the nation, either in schools, hospitals and so forth. How many patients have been prescribed wrong medication or given wrong medication, and how many learners do we have who are failing a stern subject in schools? Yes, most of the time we might not know the causes, but this can also be the main contributor. We put the blame on the learners that they do not want to study, but it is not the case.
It is just that they are being misled by a teacher who failed to do the course fully. We have strived to improve access, and this opened up the distance learning and online learning modes. But we have failed to cultivate a culture of diligence, honesty, integrity and hard work. Distance learning could target mature and experienced adults who have the discipline, and not immature young people who survive by paying “consultants” and “resubmissions” or ‘’compensatory’’ assessments without grasping anything.
Yes, we have distance learning because of A and B, but did we consider the effect that it may have on the future generation? The case that we have now in Namibia is that the graduates whom we have now in the streets are the ones who are creating it themselves with the employment of writing someone’s assignment for money. Students do not attend their online lessons anymore, but give out the work to somebody else who wants money.
Online or distance learning is now the thing of ‘’I can work, you are lazy, you have money, I do the assignment, I get the money’’.
Dr Amupanda said “Education must not be offered online. One fraudulent person who successfully gets a qualification in education will end up standing in front of 100 kids. The future of our kids would be in the hands of this fraudulent character”.
Let us maintain our qualifications ethically to spread excellent results, otherwise the chance-takers will sink our country.