Corruption in education. Students speak out
Corruption in the educational sector bothers students.The social vice is not unfamiliar in their experiences as students, so when the Ghana Anti-Corruption Coalition (GACC) gave the opportunity for selected schools to share their opinions on corruption in an essay competition, they were ready.
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The selected schools, the Accra Girls, Accra High and Accra Academy Senior High schools, based their essays on the lack of transparency with the Computerised Selection Placement Programme (CSPP), protocol lists in schools that skewed admission based on merit, examination leakages, and shady deals with teacher recruitment. The essay was titled “Write a letter to the President identifying three key corruption issues affecting the education sector in Ghana and what the President must do to address the challenges.”
The essays were posted on GACC’s Facebook for the public to vote by “liking” and “sharing” the essay which appealed to them the most, and this constituted 40 per cent of the assessment of the best essay. A panel of three assessed the content, formal requirement, development, structure, coherence and grammar, for the remaining 60 per cent.
Accra High Senior High School was adjudged the best, Accra Academy came second, and Accra Girls Senior High School placed third. These schools were awarded at a debate competition organised by GACC in collaboration with the Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) in commemoration of the 2015 World Anti-Corruption Day.
Experiences
The students discussed the infiltration of unqualified students into schools, the employment of unqualified teachers and the charging of unapproved fees which had significant bearing on their schooling.
They argued that resources were wasted when managers of education in the country flouted laws that guide how students are placed in senior high schools after their basic education.
“Students with higher marks are sacrificed on the altar of protocol admissions,” and the requirements set for the admission of prospective students disregarded.
They argued that the storming of the Wesley Girls High School in 2015 by parents whose children with better grades had been rejected while others with worse grades had been admitted was testimony of corruption in the country’s educational system.
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Accra High
Accra High School argued that while students are an educational institution’s most important resource, the heartbeat of an educational system is the quality of teachers. However, the pulse of that heartbeat seemed to be faint as they grappled with inexperienced teachers with fake certificates and the charging of unapproved fees by heads of schools.
They suggested an effective policing of the institution that places students, an independent body for the appointment and recruitment of teachers, and severe sanctions against heads of institutions charging unapproved fees to serve as deterrence.
Accra Academy
Accra Academy Senior High School argued that the country could be plunged into a dark abyss of anarchy and retrogression if the issues of corruption were not addressed. They contended that the placement of unqualified students in some schools at the expense of more qualified ones, examination malpractice and a situation where students bribed lecturers for high marks were the three corrupt practices destroying the educational system.
They maintained that the placement of unqualified students in some schools at the expense of more qualified students robbed intelligent students of opportunities; while parents bribing officials of the Ghana Education Service (GES), as well as heads of schools to have their children admitted, though unqualified, was a perversion of the system. For them, an irony was the creation of the protocol list as a vehicle for such corrupt acts because protocol meant order and the adherence to rules.
Accra Academy pointed out that examination malpractice, including the leaking of examination questions, the sale of question by WAEC officials, rendered useless the goals of examinations, that is, the evaluation of students’ performances.
The students proposed that upon entering senior high schools, pupils should be examined and their results cross-checked against the results of the WAEC examinations.
They also prescribed security of examination papers and sanctions for culprits.
Accra Girls
For the Accra Girls Senior High School, the leakage of examination questions motivated by the corrupt intention to make quick money, defeated the purpose of inculcating discipline in students and enabling them to acquire skills for life.
Another worry for the students was ghost names of teachers on government’s payroll, and corruption with the Computerised Selection and Placement System. For them, the introduction of Civic Education as a core subject at all levels of education was important in dealing with corruption.
Conclusion
The opportunity for the students presented by GACC was part of the institution’s activism against corruption in 2015.
For the students, it presented the opportunity for them to talk about the shades of corruption in their environment.
It also garnered the interest of a cross-section of the public, who read, shared and voted on the essays.
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