Bunkpurugu (N/R), April 27, GNA - Participants at the People's Assembly forum in Bunkpurugu in the Bunkpurugu-Yunyoo District have called on the government to curb corruption in schools.

This will ensure that qualified students from rural areas have equal opportunities of gaining admission into good schools. They said corruption was common with some heads of educational institutions particularly secondary schools and the universities. This makes it difficult for qualified children of poor parents to gain admission because they cannot pay their way through and this gives rise to school dropout in the country.

The forum was well patronized by chiefs and other opinion leaders, school children and organized groups in the district.

They asked questions ranging from measures to reduce poverty, the National Health Insurance Scheme, how to deal with corrupt district chief executives and how to improve the fallen standards of education in rural communities.

The participants said if the government wanted to overcome its policy of zero tolerance for corruption, there was the need to start from educational institutions.

Mr Mohammed Amin Adam, the Deputy Northern Regional Minister, said the government was still committed to the fight against corruption and would not hesitate to punish corrupt officials.

He said it was difficult to know or determine which of the school heads were corrupt and advised parents who are told to pay monies other than the approved school fees to report them for action.

Mr Charles Bintin, the Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, said the government is making available tractors and other farm equipment to help young farmers.

He said the government would acquire land from chiefs and give them to the youth who could not afford land and help them with start-up capital to embark on large-scale farming.

Earlier, the Bunkpurungu-Yunyoo Traditional Council commended the government for creation of the Bunkpurungu-Yunyoo district and appealed for telephone network, provision of potable water and a substantive DCE for the district as well as tarring of their roads.