A quiz competition on the canker of corruption was last Wednesday organised for some selected students in Junior High Schools in the Upper East Region.
It forms part of the ‘I—Shame Corruption in Ghana Project’ that seeks to inculcate in the school children the spirit of shunning away from corruption.
The participants were made to tell a constituted panel of Judges and the audience, everything they have learnt about corruption and also asked to give many examples of what was being done to stop or reduce corruption in Ghana.
It was organised by the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS) in collaboration with the National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) and the Ghana Education Service (GES).
The Anafobisi Junior High School from the Bongo District emerged first with 75 per cent and took home GH¢150, the Joakem Junior High School also in the same district came second with 71 per cent and took home a consolation prize of GH¢100.
In attendance were students, teachers and patrons, regional heads of department from the Commission of Human Rights and Administrative of Justice, the NCCE, the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection (MoGCSP), among others.
Mr Zan Akolgo, the Executive Secretary of CRITAS Ghana, a Charitable Organisation formed by the Ghana Catholic Bishops Conference to promote and help contribute to the enhancement of the dignity of human person, explained that the project was being funded by Strengthening Transparency, Accountability and Responsiveness (STAR–Ghana), through the pool of resources from the UKaid, Danida and DFID, geared towards Inter-Faith Shaping Hearts, Attitudes and Mindset to end corruption in Ghana.
Mr Akolgo added that the project implementation also involved alliance of diverse faith groups dubbed the ‘Forum for Action on Inclusion, Transparency and Harmony (FAITH) in Ghana’.
He explained that the anti-corruption campaign, ‘I—-Shame Corruption’ was the second project of the Innovative Alliance after the 2016 general election to promote social cohesion in Ghana before, during and after the election.
The executive secretary added that the project had developed a manual on corruption for the basic schools aimed at imparting lessons to students on the menace of corruption and the way to tackle it.
Mr Akolgo stated that children were the most affected by corrupt practices and called on the Ghana Education Service (GES) to adopt the manual as part of its syllabus for teaching the students to enable them grow to become responsible citizens, devoid of corruption.
The Regional Director of the NCCE, Mr Pontius Pilate Baba Apaabey commended the students for their outputs, adding that, “The quarterly debates for I—-Shame Corruption in Ghana Integrity Clubs established by the project was a powerful tool that could help address corruption”.
FROM SAMUEL AKAPULE, BOLGATANGA
