He said students who are not academically good give 'sex' to lecturers to get good grades.
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Sex for grades: The dumb ones get upgraded - Rawlings
Former President Jerry John Rawlings has said many brilliant students, particularly girls who refuse to succumb to their lecturers' sexual demands end up "getting unfair deals" in their results in the University.
Jerry John Rawlings
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His comments come after the BBC Africa Eye report exposed two lecturers at the University of Ghana and the University of Lagos in a sex-for-grade scandal.
In the exposé, a lecturer from the College of Education, Dr. Paul Kwame Butakor, pleaded with a female student to become her side guy.
He said repeatedly, "Let me be your side boy, side guy…men have side chicks…I will not give you trouble…seriously I will not give you trouble…I will not give you trouble…I will not be a distraction to your life…let me be your side guy…"
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Though the lecturer claimed he is married, he said his wife is not in the country but he would like to be by the side of the student and the female student should be his side guy.
"Maybe you’ll be my side and I’ll also be your side. Because of me, I'm married…my wife is not in the country though…my wife is out of the country," he said.
After the report on the sex for grades, Ghanaians took to social media to express their views.
Rawlings speaking on the exposé said, "Apparently sometimes, the dumb ones, get upgraded; either first class or second class honours or whatever it is, when everybody knows that they are not worth it."
Former President Jerry John Rawlings with GJA leadership
Pulse Ghana
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He made the remarks when the leadership of the Ghana Journalists Association (GJA) paid a courtesy call on him at his office in Accra on Thursday, October 31, 2019.
He noted that the practice of sex-for-grades was not only a shortcut to destroying people’s lives, but it was an inhumane practice that could destroy the moral fabric of the country.
"Why should we be taking human beings through such humiliations [sex for grades],” he questioned and added that there was nothing "as bad and corruptible as breaking the moral fabric of society," Rawlings said.
He has advocated for the use of external examiners [markers] in institutions of higher learning in Ghana as part of efforts to help address the sex-for-grades menace between some lecturers and their students.
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