Bribery menace

Latest reports say the country’s education sector has surpassed the Police Department in terms of bribery certainly deserve attention by the authorities given the implication of the allegation.

If this allegation is true it is a serious blot on a sector that is dedicated to guide the destinies of the country’s future generation. There is no denying that our education sector has of late earned a bad reputation in the eyes of the public with the unravelling of some murky details involving some school heads.

Speculation has also been fuelled by episodes involving school admissions.

The recent spate of arrests of school heads by the Bribery Commission certainly does not do credit to a sector that is held in awe and respect by the public. If the fountainhead and repository of rectitude and moral conduct is to suffer such decay one fears to contemplate the repercussions this entails on the entire social fabric.

The Police Department of course has time and again been singled out as an institution where graft is endemic. This is common to all Police forces elsewhere in the world as well. While all police officers are cannot be painted with the same brush there is a perception among the public that a majority of policemen mainly those of the lower ranks are on the take.

The Police Department has earned this bad name obviously due to the actions of some of these lower ranking officers which had brought a bad name to the Department as a whole.

It in no secret that most of these ‘bad eggs’ are tainted with graft ranging from the bribes collected from errant motorists on the highways to turning a blind eye to the sale of illicit liquor in their localities .

There are policemen who openly visit these hooch dens to collect their ‘share’ in the full the glare of the public. Bribes are given to suppress cases against criminals and wrongdoers. No institution would like to be equated with such an unsavoury reputation, especially not a sector that is devoted to moulding the character of our youth and guiding their destinies.

That the country’s education sector has broken this dubious record certainly mirrors the shift in the value system where mammon has prevailed over long cherished values and lofty ideals ingrained in young minds at school.

That an institution dedicated to guiding the destinies of the country’s younger generation should be tarnished with allegations of bribery itself is an indictment of the times we live in.

Like all things that underwent change with the open economy, education too was a casualty of the market place. The proliferation of private tuition classes and crash courses in various subjects without any regard for quality opened the floodgates of an education Industry where the emphasis was on profit.

The mushrooming of “International schools” was only the natural extension of this phenomenon which paved the way for competition like any commodity in the market place.

The emergence of a new class of rich - some engaged in dubious enterprises - also provided a good opportunity for reputed schools to fatten their coffers. Needless to say not all the money collected went towards so-called school building funds or other projects.

Money became the name of the game forcing the less well do to borrow and scrape to get their children admitted to a decent school. In this task they often failed, unable to match the resources of the nouveau rich.

The demand for admissions to these reputed schools also had its own spin off with year end admission time bringing with it a Christmas bonanza to most school principals who exploited the situation to rake in the shekels.

The recent arrest of a school principal of a reputed girls’ school in the outskirts of Colombo by the Bribery Commission was only the tip of the iceberg in the massive scams enacted behind the respectable doors of certain schools. No more were admissions done on merit like in the good old days.

Today the various guidelines stipulated for admissions have given rise to manipulations.

Even with Government intervention to streamline the process the loopholes are being exploited by unscrupulous elements.

The system has deteriorated to such a degree that in the present day the school life of a child begins with a pack of lies he or she is forced to utter by the parents at interviews for admission. It is deception from the word go. The authorities should take note of the present trend in the schools set up and come out with solutions to ensure that every child gets an equal opportunity for a sound education.

More than anything it should take steps to end the unsavoury reputation acquired by our educational institutions lest its influence seep into the country’s social fabric.