Former Rector of the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA) Professor Stephen Adei has blamed the recent acts of indiscipline and destruction of school property by final year students of some Senior High Schools on corruption.
According to him, corruption in Ghana has trickled down from the elite and ruling class to the bottom and several spheres of society.
Acts of vandalism and verbal attacks carried out by some students have been widely reported in Ghana, following what the students say are strict supervision, difficult questions and social distancing in the ongoing WASSCE examination.
The development has been widely condemned by a large section of Ghanaians and stakeholders in the education sector with 14 students and some teachers receiving punishments for their involvement in the acts.
This situation according to Professor Stephen Adei is a manifestation of how corruption has eaten deep into every sector including education.
“I do believe that corruption has become very endemic and in fact what is happening in the secondary schools though you see it not as related, it is because of corruption that is going down. The children are used to getting a D so that some of them actually pass without going through the rigorous studies,” he said in an interview on Accra based Asaase Radio monitored by dreamzfmonline.com.
He explained that situations whereby candidates at both the Junior High School and the Senior High School level contribute money for heads of schools and exam officials to help them pass has affected the mindset and orientation of students on examination.
“So the corruption is very deep, not only at the higher level but it’s sinking low. It is going to constrain our development,” he added.
Professor Adei who is also the Board Chairman of the Ghana Revenue Authority noted that the fight against corruption must be driven by multi-faceted efforts including the use of technology, transparency in leadership and exemplary life by policy and decision makers who control public resources.
“For example, in the bad old days when you would have to go through about 50 steps to clear something in the port. It takes Angels to do so. We must simply our systems using IT,” he noted.
