Leaving no learner behind: tackling corruption and discrimination in education across Africa

Corruption in Africa’s education systems undermines the right to education, reinforces social exclusion, and weakens institutional trust. Drawing on evidence from Corruption Risk Assessments (CRAs) conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe under the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa (ISDA) project, this policy brief will be used by all ISDA project partners for advocacy work. Though manifestations differ across countries, patterns of discriminatory and gendered corruption are continent-wide. Core risks include sextortion, bribery, patronagebased recruitment, and misuse of procurement processes, disproportionately affecting women, girls, children with disabilities, and rural learners. As per the CRAs, corruption appears at the point of service delivery, where service providers interact and demands for bribes or additional unlawful payments. CRAs exposed instances of corruption, such as extra- registration fees for school enrollment, misuse of organizational resources presents other visible corruption risks, nepotism undermining the fair hiring of teachers, conflicts of interest and favoritism skewing fair public procurement procedures, "ghost workers" receiving state payments despite their absence; and employees pilfering school supplies from storage facilities. This policy brief is structured to provide a clear roadmap from problem identification and evidence to actionable policy solutions. It includes: (i) an overview of corruption and exclusion in Africa’s education systems, (ii) evidence and its implications, (iii) shared corruption risks and cross-cutting challenges, and (iv) a pan-African action agenda. The brief is tailored for policymakers, regional bodies, civil society, and development partners committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.