The National Commission for Civic Education (NCCE) has organised a quiz on corruption for Junior High Schools in Accra as a way of educating them on the canker.

The competition was between two Junior High Schools (JHS) representing the Greater Accra Region namely; St Joseph’s RC JHS and Kanda 3 and 5 JHS.

The two competing schools were examined on the Constitution and especially, designed manual on corruption.

St Joseph’s RC JHS won the competition and was awarded with a cash prize of Gh¢350.00 together with stationery materials and Kanda 3 and 5 JHS took home a cash prize of Gh250.00 together with stationery materials for their efforts.

The competition was organised by NCCE in collaboration with the National Catholic Secretariat (NCS) with support from the Ghana Education Service (GES) and sponsored by Strengthening Transparency Accountability and Responsiveness in Ghana (STAR Ghana).

Mr Samuel Asare Akuamoah, NCCE Deputy Chairman (Operations), advised the students to put the knowledge gained out of the competition into practice.

He said they should embrace togetherness, hard work and honesty in order to enjoy the freedom that had been given to all citizens.

“With all the knowledge you have gained out of this programme, I want to encourage you to put them into practice. If you don’t practice them, then you have not really been changed.

“Be the only person out there among your peers who is unique and doing things differently,” he added.

Mr Samuel Zan Akologo, NCS Executive Secretary explained that the Secretariat was only acting as lead for the Forum for Actions on Inclusion, Transparency and Harmony (FAITH) in Ghana Alliance, which had come together to drive the anti-corruption agenda.

He said the Alliance comprised the Office of the National Chief Imam, the Ahmadiya Muslim Mission in Ghana, the Federation of Muslim Womens’ Association, the National Relief and Development Services, the Ghana Pentecostal Council.

Mr Akologo said partnership was necessary for the promotion of the country’s common goal and that, the Sustainable Development Goals could not be realized if citizens did not work in partnership.

He also urged civil society to refrain from criticizing government and rather, work together to bring about solutions.

Mr Akologo said assessment of the students served as the monitoring mechanism for the project implementers to help them check how learning was taking place.

The assessment also served as a means of public education and would encourage the young ones to be the anti-corruption campaigners.

He urged the students to uphold integrity over wealth and yearn to go through the stages of life as agents of integrity.

“The integrity of family, children and parents is better than ill-gotten wealth,” he added.

Master Gideon Salifu, a JHS 3 student and the leader of the St Joseph’s RC Junior High School team lauded the NCCE and NCS for the initiative and said it would help them contribute their quota to help eradicate corruption.

He urged NCCE to spread their wings and establish their clubs in more schools so that their quest to provide civic education would be achieve and called on cooperate bodies to come on board to support the agenda.

Miss Marilyn Asumadu, a JHS 2 student and the leader of the Kanda 3 and 5 JHS team said the competition had broadened their knowledge base on the subject of corruption.

She said the competition had also helped students to know the negative effects of corruption and ways they could help to curb it.

In 2018, the National Catholic Secretariat and other stakeholders decided to set up integrity clubs in some institutions to help them know their civic rights and responsibilities.

Two schools were selected to represent their region, thereby, making it 20 schools representing the then 10 regions as at 2018.

Other institutions that were present to support the competition included Department of children, Commission for Human Rights and Administrative Justice and GES.