In the media

The U.S. Department of Justice may be breathing new life into a whistle-blower lawsuit that seeks to collect about $1billion from the University of Phoenix, the nation's largest private institution of higher education. The suit was dismissed in May by a federal district-court judge in California on technical grounds but the parties appealed.

Poor performance in the 2004 Primary leaving Examinations has been blamed on the many teachers who used fake academic documents and poor sanitation in numerous schools. Of the 5,655 pupils who sat for PLE last year, only 90 passed in grade one, while 3,892 failed.

120 teachers have no qualifications, i.e. no documents or inadequate ones. Many primary teachers in remote areas lack qualifications and some do not even have O' level certificates.

An official in the Ministry of Higher Education, who was apprehended on suspicion of theft from a government safe, is still in police custody, while investigations involving about N$98,300, which disappeared from a government safe, could reveal other suspects.

The system is open to abuse because there is no counterchecking and quality assurance by the Education ministry of exam registration, marking and results. As a result, dishonest heads collected exam fees from students but failed to register them, said the Kenya National Association of Parents.

The cost of running schools could go down by as much as 40% if corruption is eradicated. Moreover, if the head teacher's lifestyle is beyond what is expected of his station, blow the whistle. This is bound to raise cries of witch-hunting, but it is practised effectively in the Scandinavian countries, which are the least corrupt in the world.

OECD has, since 1997, been engaged in the fight against corruption among foreign public servants in international transactions. As such, the institution organized last November a conference on the promotion of integrity in the public market. One suggestion is to establish a "Black list" over companies that are or have been involved in corruption.

The Minister for the Presidency has warned the Kimbugwe Foundation Scholarship Scheme against using the Movement's name to offer ghost scholarships to people. The foundation had selected 800 students and given them scholarships after charging them Shs10,000 each.

Two students in their first year of law studies have paid 50 euros each in bribes to have their exam paper corrected. They have most likely used their cellular phone to contact a third person who has then corrected their papers.

A federal grand jury in Kansas indicted a former college-basketball coach last month on charges that he arranged for his players to receive phony academic credit and stole $120,000 in Pell Grants. The former coach faces a total of 51 years in prison and over $1.5-million in fines if found guilty of all counts.