In the media

Indonesia's Attorney General's Office is investigating alleged widespread corruption in an IDR 9.9 trillion (approx. $619 million) laptop procurement project (2019-2022) at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. Investigators suspect significant price markups, volume reductions, or even fictitious procurement of educational assets.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EEAC) has uncovered bribery, corruption, procurement irregularities, and fraudulent acquisition of public property in five public universities in Kenya. These malpractices have resulted in the loss of 6.4 billion shillings in public funds. The universities are now under investigation for criminal offenses.

Thousands of KwaZulu-Natal children have been forced to go to school on an empty stomach. This comes after the collapse of the KZN National School Nutrition Programme due to tender irregularities and corruption. The provincial Department of Education is yet to provide information regarding this issue.

Social accountability projects are implemented with citizen engagement to ensure certain degree of accountability at all levels. Two social accountability projects have been implemented, operating in accordance with the provisions of the Local Government Act 2009. These projects aim to improve involvement of citizens in the management of local government finance.

The video explains how Public Expenditure Tracking Surveys (PETS) are conducted and highlights a few challenges in their implementation. A PETS aims to track the use of public money, from its disbursement to its utilization. The video takes the example of the public education budget to illustrate PETS.

A survey conducted by Transparency International in Ghana, Madagascar, Morocco, Niger, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Uganda covered different actors in the education system. The reports highlight the lack of budget information in schools and call for strengthened regulation and accountability, as well as greater involvement of school communities and parents.