Use values education to fight corruption — Kuupole
The Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, Professor Domwini Dabire Kuupole, has advocated the introduction of values education in the curricular of the various levels of education in order to win the fight against corruption in the country.
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"Many other institutions and factors will influence and shape the development of our value system, but we all will agree that our schools, colleges, learning centres and institutions of higher learning have an extremely important role to play in supporting the development of our value system and in establishing the generation of the ethical fibre of our society," he said .
Delivering a keynote address at the sixth congregation of the Pentecost University College on the theme: "Values education: the answer to a corruption-free society", Prof. Kuupole explained that there was the need to inculcate in the citizenry, values education to uproot corruption which is a social canker.
That, he said, was because "it looks like it is even the most educated who indulge in higher level and ophisticated corruption."
Prof Kuupole said taking students of all ages through values education would get them to become more reflective, understanding, aware, sensitive and studious.
However, he pointed out that values education should not merely involve internalising or inculcating any external moral, political, social or religious code of conduct into the students.
Rather, he mentioned, it should involve the participation of the students in examining the values in such codes and their effects on their well-being.
For effective values education, Professor Kuupole said there should be time slots dedicated to the teaching of values, " this means, specific subject in the curriculum in our school while in the universities and colleges it could mean the introduction of some compulsory liberal courses with a set time to discuss values issues in depth."
Values education specialists
Additionally, he stated that the teachers of values education must be specialists who are specifically trained and know how to draw out the values implications and how to encourage youngsters to think rationally about complex and sometimes sensitive interpersonal issues.
He was of the view that the corruption fighter's toolkit of Transparency International, titled: "Teaching Integrity to Youth," could be adopted for teaching of values education in the primary and secondary schools while at the tertiary level, courses on corruption and anti-corruption and research on the issues could be fostered.
"We all know quite well that corruption will not easily disappear from society, however, efforts should be made to restrict corruption and to protect as much as possible the poor and weak in our society."
New approaches
Taking his turn, before the conferment of degrees on 723 graduands, the Chancellor of the Pentecost University College, Apostle Dr Opoku Onyina, said it was important that Ghanaians use the knowledge obtained through training in the various programmes of study to develop the nation rather than use it as a conduit for draining resources of organisations.
"It has become increasingly clear that Ghana's educational system must embrace new approaches and paradigms which would inculcate value codes such as honesty, integrity and faithfulness in their training."
Morals
The rector of the university college, Rev. Dr Peter Ohene Kyei, in a welcome address, said the traditional model of the classical university education model had failed to adequately address all the needs and challenges of the modern society when it came to moral development of men and women.
"The Ghanaian society and other societies, in recent times, have been plagued with social vices such as the 'get-rich-quick' attitude, occultism, sakawa or internet fraud, immodest dressing, armed robbery, drug trafficking, promiscuity, incest, domestic violence, political hypocrisy and corruption," he said.
The best student was Mr Stephen Enebeli Annan, an accounting student, who also graduated with first class honours.