In the press

A large number of parents have expressed their dissatisfaction over the way teachers are demanding money for the release of end-of-year results to their children. Parents are now calling on the minister of education to do something towards the extra charges in primary and secondary schools in order to up hold the free education scheme for all.

According to an opposition leader, the businessman Agarwal's pledge last week of $1-billion to set up Vedanta University, in the South Indian state of Orissa, is a gimmick to divert attention from his corrupt mining deal with the state's government. The $1-billion pledge, which if realized would be the largest gift ever made to a higher-education institution, is intended to create a multidisciplinary elite university for 100,000 students that would open in 2008.

The federal polytechnic has expelled 162 students for examination malpractice, cultism and poor academic performance, in the 2004-2005 session. The students were expelled for their involvement in examination misconduct during examinations.

MPIGI district has dismissed over 73 primary school head teachers over incompetence and lack of proper academic qualifications. About 50 schools were given new head teachers. Over 100 teachers were examined. The exercise was part of the district's primary schools re-organisation programme aimed at improving education standards.

Over 300 ghost teachers have been registered in universal primary education schools in the Mukono district. According to the Chairman of the district education committee, five schools in the remote areas were headed by one person. The high number of fake teachers has led to poor performance in schools because of very few teachers compared to the number on the payroll.

A report examining governments contracting for the delivery of education services finds a wide range of models have been implemented around the world. The report, 'Contracting for the delivery of education services: A typology and international examples', published by the Education Forum, states that educational services contracting can have many benefits such as raising the efficiency of service delivery and spending.

Some language schools are being used to sell false papers, enabling immigrants to obtain student visas. Some are paying up to £600 for fake documents which they use in visa applications to extend their stay. More than half of 83 language colleges recently inspected could be shut down. Up to 50,000 students could be using such scams to stay illegally.

The average salary for a teacher in the US is $47,000 a year. One thing that money doesn't account for is the time a teacher spends putting their lesson plans together. On the webpage 'Teacherspayteachers.com' is an open market place, teachers can sell their original course materials for instant downloads.

Sierra Leonean civil society activists are working to improve accountability. The National Accountability Group (NAG) – the local chapter of Transparency International – used a Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS) to find out what had happened to school fee subsidies and learning materials designated for a sample of 28 schools in a rural district. NAG's survey came after an earlier Ministry of Finance PETS revealed startling figures about education corruption. In 2002 researchers found that 45.1 percent of the funds for school fees subsidies were unaccounted for and that nearly 28 percent of teaching and learning materials had disappeared.

Le Conseil interuniversitaire de l'Afrique de l'Est (IUCEA) est sur le point de développer un système destiné à normaliser les diplômes proposés par les universités locales. Selon le secrétaire de direction du Conseil, la plupart des Kényans souhaitent intégrer une université en Ouganda du fait de coûts d'inscription inférieurs à ceux de leurs universités locales. Cependant, ils ne s'assurent pas de la conformité de la qualité de l'enseignement dispensé par les universités ougandaises aux normes en vigueur.