Students Share Their Thoughts On Corruption

Students selected from some secondary schools within the Accra metropolis have shared their thoughts on the subject of corruption and how it impacted the youth and the nation.

These youth shared their views during a youth forum held in Accra to mark this year's Anti-corruption and Transparency (ACT)week celebration.

The participating schools included; Accra Academy, Accra High School, Wesley Grammer, Holy Trinity Cathedral Senior High School, Presec, Legon, Osu Presec and Kinbu Senior High School.

Chris Akor, a student of Presec, Legon said some students were favoured by tutors not because they deserved, it but because they performed some domestic duties such as washing, fetching of water among others.
"Such students are seen scoring good grades we all know they don't merit," he said.

Shenazar Sowa-Edmunds presenting for Osu Presec suggested that to intensify the education amongst the youth Integrity clubs should be instituted in school.
She said the appointment of integrity ambassadors within the schools would assist in enforcing value of integrity among the youth.

Madam Anna Bossman, Ghana's Ambassador to France urged the youth to value integrity and that success was not measured by what one had but how they were gotten.
"Always take role models who will inspire you to become better, work hard to get achieve success and avoid short cuts," she advised.

Mr Richard Quayson, Deputy Commissioner, Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ), said corruption, indiscipline and lawlessness were not accidental, but rather by-products of the sum total of our thoughts, attitudes, mindset, upbringing, education and actions.

He said the purpose of education and learning was not merely the acquisition of knowledge, but more importantly, imparting into the conscience of the society core values that equally and proportionately integrated the various component of humanity.

He said Basic Education harnessed the foundational constructs of the intellectual, psychological, emotional, social and physical development of the nation’s human capital.

“It is therefore the most important domain next to the family system to inculcate and nurture lifelong values during early brain and character development,” he said.

He said there was therefore an urgent need to place character building at the centre of the educational curriculum adding that the development of the character of every child from the basic level was essential and had the ability to impact the nation at large over time.