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A new report from Global anti-corruption organization-Transparency International (TI) shows that Ghana�s education sector is riddled with massive corruption. In the report published in its 2013 Global Corruption Report (GCR) on Education, the anti-corruption organization estimates that 66 percent of Ghanaians see the country�s education system as corrupt or highly corrupt. Additionally, about 40% of Ghanaians surveyed in the GCR corruption barometer admits that they recently had to pay a bribe before getting the requisite access to education for their wards, the repot stated. The GCR 2013 also shows that in all cases, corruption in education acts as a dangerous barrier to high-quality learning and social and economic development. �It jeopardizes the academic benefits of universities and may even lead to the reputational collapse of a country�s entire higher education system,� the report noted. The report also cites many examples of bribery in university admissions and administration. �Corruption in education is particularly burdensome for the poor, who, according to the 2010/2011 Global Corruption Barometer, are twice as likely to be asked to pay bribes for basic services as wealthier people. Transparency and strong accountability mechanisms make it harder for corrupt school officials and university staff to disguise this corruption. Identifying and eliminating corruption in the education sector is essential to ensuring that learning opportunities are not undermined,� stated in the local arm of the TI in Ghana, Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII) in summarizing the report on Tuesday. According to the anti-corruption group, corruption in the education sector is aided by the lack effective monitoring of these educational institutions by the outside world. �The roots of corrupt practices lie in a lack of transparency and accountability. The inability to access information prevents communities and individuals from being able to monitor budgets and demand answers from those in power,� stated the summary of the report signed by Vitus Adaboo Azeem, the Executive Secretary of GII. The research was conducted by a team from the Columbia University School of International and Public Affairs and the GII. The work plan consisted of desk research, literature review and field visits to Ghana, during which more than 180 interviews were conducted among multiple stakeholders, including all levels of the education system. �The schools visited were selected through a strategic geographic sampling that built on previous findings from Transparency International�s report Africa Education,� the report stated. The report recommended a radical institution of monitoring systems to check corruption tendencies in the country�s education sector. �The implementation of anti-corruption basics such as access to information on education policy, codes of conduct for educators, parent and student participation in governance, and clear systems of oversight and accountability across the education spectrum would ensure that every cedi spent on teaching our children ends up where it should: building schools, paying teachers and buying textbooks,� it recommended.