IN AN EXPLOSIVE revelation addressed to Hon. Haruna Iddrisu, Minister of Education Designate, one Clement Ayorigo, an Assistant Headmaster at Bassa Community (SHS), has detailed shocking levels of corruption and malpractice in the education sector.
From the BECE to tertiary institutions, Mr. Ayorigo unveiled how systemic cheating undermines the integrity of Ghana’s education system under the NPP government, jeopardizing its global reputation.
At the BECE level, Mr. Ayorigo disclosed that headmasters are coerced to manipulate results to portray government success. To achieve this, headmasters direct teachers to collect money from candidates to bribe invigilators, who then allow the smuggling of exam papers out of examination centers.
Teachers solve the questions, make photocopies of the answers and distribute them to students, ensuring inflated grades. These fake grades allow students to progress to the SHS level, where the malpractice becomes even more institutionalized.
According to Mr. Ayorigo, the introduction of Performance Contracts for headmasters has led to what he terms “Exam Malpractice Contracts.” Fearing dismissal if students perform poorly, headmasters establish secret “strong rooms,” where selected teachers solve exam questions.
To thus effect, students pay between GH¢3,000 and GH¢10,000 for access to these solutions. Schools also exploit exam registration periods by admitting “re-sitters” who did not initially attend the school, forging their Continuous Assessment Marks to qualify them for exams.
These unethical practices create a ripple effect, producing graduates with hollow knowledge but impressive grades. Mr. Ayorigo noted that this trend is particularly dangerous in sectors like national security, where incompetent recruits can pose risks to public safety.
Corruption does not end at the SHS level: at the tertiary level, students with financial means or female students willing to engage in sexual favours receive higher grades, while intelligent but disadvantaged students are unfairly penalized.
Mr. Ayorigo appealed to Hon. Haruna Iddrisu to take immediate action, urging him to ensure that Ghanaian academic certificates reflect genuine knowledge.
He called on the newly constituted NDC government to reset the education system as part of its broader national reset agenda. “Mother Ghana is crying on you to put your feet on the ground to redeem our globally respected educational certificates,” he lamented.
Source: Nationaltyme.com
