Sex for grades documentary bad for higher education in Africa - Prof Yankah

Minister of State in-charge of Tertiary Education, Prof Kwesi Yankah, has said the recent documentary by the BBC on sexual harassment in universities in West Africa fuels stereotypes about the continent.

“The continent [Africa] has been stereotyped over the years for everything negative – from corruption to disease to ignorance to poverty. It doesn’t do us any good,” he said Tuesday on Top Story on Joy FM.

The BBC documentary, Sex for Grades, highlighted the pervasive claim that some academics use their position to force students into having sex.

The year-long investigation by BBC Africa Eye, released on Monday, explored the harassment at the University of Lagos, Nigeria, and the University of Ghana.

The film showed lecturers allegedly propositioning undercover journalists.

Three of the men featured, two in Ghana and one in Nigeria, have now been suspended pending investigations.

Social media users and high-profile figures are demanding action and sharing their own experiences.

However commenting on the documentary, Prof Yankah noted that the story told by the documentary is nothing new, but only “a reminder that we should sit up and realise that the global village is looking at ways by which probably some of our best universities can be toppled by scandals.”

“It’s stereotypical. I don’t know how many stories from international media organisation have been positive on higher education in Africa. It’s all negative,” he told Top Story host, Evans Mensah.

While acknowledging that the revelations in the documentary are important to the academia and policymakers, he maintains that “It shouldn’t take the BBC to tell us that there is sexual harassment in African universities.”

Watch Top Story in the video link below.