Academic quandary - Yaw Boadu-Ayeboafoh writes

Destroying a nation does not require the use of atomic bombs or the use of long-range missiles....

It only requires lowering the quality of education and allowing cheating in the examinations by students.

Patients die at the hands of such doctors; buildings collapse at the hands of such engineers; money is lost at the hands of such economists and accountants: Humanity dies at the hands of such religious scholars; justice is lost at the hands of such judges".

This is a message found written at the entrance of a university in South Africa for contemplation.

This is the crux of our educational system, which has reached a stage where most of the students do not rely upon themselves to gain knowledge and insight, but try to cheat with no appreciation of the subject. 

James William of Harvard University encourages students to be self-reliant when he says, "Let not a youth have any anxiety about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be.

If he keeps faithfully busy each hour of the working days, he may safely leave the final result to itself.

He can with perfect certainty count on waking up some fine morning to find himself one of the competent ones of his generation in whatever pursuit he may have singled out!”

His recommendation is an independent search for knowledge through serious self-indulgence. But that is not what is happening today in our tertiary institutions.

When I was at the University of Ghana, Legon, in the late 1970s, plagiarism, the use of any academic resource material without open acknowledgement of the source, was considered suicidal, and the greatest academic sin, the concomitant of which was exposure as an academic charlatan, subject to open condemnation.

Today, we have some students who graduate with First Class or distinction, but who could hardly explain any concept in the subject matter in any language with clarity and certainty.

That is why I want to focus on the academic quandary,  a complex web, which has enmeshed us all, lecturers, students and project (long essay and thesis) contractors.

Practice

The practice is widespread and diffused and requires collective effort and individual determination to be stemmed and wiped out.

Depending on the topic and subject area, whether at the diploma, undergraduate or graduate level, charges are fixed for every chapter. 

It is believed that the least is GH¢500 per chapter.

A corollary to the tendency to hire out the project work is also the practice where a group of students are given a common project work, but irrespective of individual contributions, the grade secured is credited to each student. 

This puts the burden on a few students who are serious about carrying out all the research, with the parasites gaining everything and losing nothing.

Charged

There are some lecturers charged to supervise such projects, but because of the low remuneration, they are neither keen nor eager about the process.  

Some supervisors frustrate students by either not being available to direct the course of the project or unduly delaying marking the project.

I am privy to a situation where the student completed the MSc thesis within the regulated time. 

After a year without hearing from the supervisor, he secured a scholarship and travelled outside to do a two-year MSc, upon which he was recruited to lecture in his former department.

Four years after submitting the thesis, he received the assessment, subject to minor grammatical and spelling errors, he had passed.

It means that although there was no academic problem with the originality and quality of his thesis, he would have waited helplessly for four years before getting his certificate. 

Project contractors

The menace of project contractors came to my notice about 10 years ago, when a subordinate who hired the services of one for an MA thesis defaulted in payment.

The contractor called me to complain, after which I summoned the person and when he admitted, I advised him to redeem himself, since if the contractor could complain to me, then one cannot be certain how far he could diffuse the information.

He did, and the contractor called to thank me for my intervention. 

Since last year, I have been alarmed about the brazen manner in which students are engaging the services of project contractors.  

In one particular instance, the lecturer, as a supervisor, recruits the contractors, negotiates prices up to the binding stage and presents them to the department.

The crime was exposed when two students refused to pay and the lecturer threatened to deal with them.

Campaign

This is a campaign that I want all well-meaning Ghanaians to join hands in fighting. This is not the time to ask for evidence because it is an open secret.

I fought for the re-sit of the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) for Junior High School students, pointing out that even adults have chances to resit examinations, thus the limitation of the BECE to a single sitting was unjust, unfair, dysfunctional and unproductive.

The advocacy took a long time but I never wavered.

Today, it is a reality. To that extent, the Salt and Light Ministries wrote to me what was termed "A Salt and Light Motivational Letter". 

The letter stated, among other things, "Dear Yaw, you are unique.

Grace, mercy and peace be yours from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

As you may know, Salt and Light Ministries is a Ministry of encouragement to the body of Christ, to be everything that God in Christ, has raised us to be (Matthew 5:16).

"As part of our mission of motivating and encouraging people to be the establishment God wants them to be, we take this opportunity to write to let you know you are unique for your courageous and enduring attempts of championing the cause of the BECE resit examination.

"God has carefully, intentionally and individually crafted you and vested in you various skills, talents and tasks and has called you by name to accomplish certain things for Him.

This thought should bring you great comfort as you seek to do your part in the larger scheme of the affairs of this nation".

The letter dated September 17, 2013, and signed by Dr Joyce Aryee, Executive Director, concluded thus, "May the Lord garrison you with His love and endue you with all wisdom and discernment so that you can use all your gifts, talents and skills to His glory and for the well-being, advancement and prosperity of our dear nation.

He who has called you is faithful. He will do it. Once again, congratulations".

I hope that as a nation, we would readily mobilise resources to uproot this academic scourge, cancer and canker and resolve the quandary such that we can promote independence, originality and ownership of the research capacities of our students.

If we cannot stem the tide, then we should look for better, functional and purposeful alternatives to the project work to enhance research skills without condoning academic fraud and thievery since moral rights are guaranteed in perpetuity and are not transferrable.

To claim the moral right to a work of art you did not produce is at the height of intellectual calumny and suicide.

We cannot destroy our nation because "The collapse of education is the collapse of the nation".