In the media

In Mexico, two former officials of a state Education Ministry have been charged with embezzlement and failure to fulfill legal duties for allegedly diverting approximately 290 million MXN (approx.16 million USD) from 2018–2021. Funds originally allocated for staff salaries and benefits were misused via trusts and a financial company.

The Paraguayan Education Ministry (MEC) suspended a nationwide teacher recruitment exam after more than 13,000 applicants reported widespread fraud in the previous test. Evidence presented by the National Directors’ Union (Sinadi) indicated that proctors and Ministry staff showed favoritism by assisting specific candidates in completing the exam, prompting calls for stricter oversight and accountability in recruitment practices.

Under the Organic Law on Intercultural Education (LOEI) and government directives on measures for prevention, containment, the emotional and economic stability of the educational community, the Ministry of Education prohibits any type of financial contribution by parents for the renovation of classroom façades or any other end-of-school-year expenditure. The Ministry guarantees the right to free education, monitors irregularities, and punishes any cases of misconduct.

The civil organization called for the six aspiring governors of Mexico State to commit to actions such as debugging the education payroll and providing resources to schools in marginalized areas. "Mexicans have a right to know which candidates for state governor are in favor of educational reform and which are in favor of the comfortable status quo, as well as which candidates for governor are committed to the rule of law and which will continue to allow a series of abuses and omissions of the law," said the organization.

The commitment and effort of Ministry of Education ( Minedu ) officials were recognized during the awards ceremony of the contest "Best Practices in Public and Anticorruption Management in Education 2015" which this year honoured the winners of three categories. In this fourth version of the contest thirty-eight good practices were presented, which were evaluated by an ad hoc committee based on criteria such as planning, replicability and sustainability.

Teachers working in non-existent schools and in municipalities that could not be found on the map, non-existent educational centers, communities that could not be located, and teachers working in two regions. These were some of the irregularities that were revealed by statistics provided by the Registry of the Teaching Profession of the Education Secretariat.

The pamphlet announces the opening of courses in eight colleges and asks for 50 bolivianos to be deposited in a bank account. The ministry of education gave notice that the announcement was not official. The ministry has already given a cautionary notice to the general public via the print press on the falsehood of the information that circulated through educational establishments in La Paz.

Three women are being investigated for asking 80,000 pesos from four people pledging they would get them jobs as primary teachers. The accused admitted that they had falsified postings notices for several years.

In one hour, and for about 38 dollars, you can get a false university degree in China, but the enforcement of punishment is making it ever more difficult to use such fraud to find a job or get into a foreign university. The measures introduced by China have curbed fraud and many fake degrees are now detected through authentication procedures; however, some genuine diplomas have been awarded to bogus students.

Four-week masters and doctorate degrees – and even undergraduate courses – are being offered over the Internet with no official recognition. Hence, the problem arises later when students seek admission to other universities, pass the entrance exam, but cannot enrol as their qualification is not recognised. In Latin America the demand for higher education is so great that people let themselves get sucked in.