Search Page

The government in Bangladesh is working on a new law to tighten regulations for private universities, aiming to enhance transparency and governance. The proposed amendments include a requirement for one-third of board trustees to be academics, restrictions on trustees' benefits, and empowering authorities to appoint observers at universities facing disruptions. The draft law also introduces quality assurance cells to maintain education standards, emphasizing the need for better governance amid concerns over corruption and irregularities in private higher education.

Arunachal Pradesh's Special Investigation Cell (SIC) raided the Directorate of Elementary Education and the Director's residence over the alleged illegal appointment of 28 primary teachers in Longding district. A case has been filed, investigating corrupt practices in the appointments. The SIC aims to uncover the truth and gather evidence through intensive investigations and coordinated raids in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, in collaboration with local law enforcement agencies.

Investigations carried out by the State Anti-Corruption and Vigilance Bureau have revealed cases of corruption within the offices of the Department of Education, particularly in relation to the appointment of teaching and non-teaching staff in government-aided public schools, the payment of subsidies for management purposes, the creation of new unauthorized posts, the fixing of salaries, retirement benefits and the granting of leave. Since 2018, management appointments for non-existent vacancies have been illegally validated. In addition, government-approved orders for posts in aided schools have been deliberately delayed due to non-payment of bribes.

The Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture has revoked 31 private higher education licences after finding that the institutions did not meet the required standards in terms of facilities and student numbers, that teaching was poor, and that there had been allegations of bogus courses and fraudulent issuing of diplomas. The Ministry will help students from the institutions concerned to transfer to accredited institutions. Teachers who are found not to have been involved in the fraudulent schemes will receive the same assistance, otherwise, they will be blacklisted.

The government in Bangladesh is setting up more private universities even though the number of students and teachers at such higher education institutions has been dropping for the last four years. According to the University Grants Commission, private universities are failing to provide quality education, and, in some cases, they were set up without adequate planning as approval was allegedly obtained using political connections. Under the Private Universities Act, a university must own a permanent campus within seven years of its launch. 77 universities are over seven years old but only 26 have permanent campuses.

Several reports revealed that a Jalandhar-based study abroad company filed around 700 fraudulent student visa applications between 2018 and 2022. After completing their courses and fulfilling work requirements, the students applied for permanent residency in Canada and submitted supporting documents. The Canadian Border Security Agency examined the documents based on which the visas were granted to the students and discovered that the letters of admission were false. The Government is investigating reports of fraudulent admission letters.

The deteriorating situation in South Waziristan’s education system demands urgent measures. A teacher from the Servaki division revealed that funds allocated for the construction of washrooms and play areas have vanished, benefiting only the office administration and school owners. Moreover, it has become a trend for school owners to extort money from teachers, often amounting to 1000 to 12000 rupees per teacher per month. Teachers who refuse to comply with such demands are subjected to false reports filed against them, resulting in inquiries initiated by the District Education Office.

The Department of Education (DepEd) was asked to take accountability and corruption cases that led to the alleged fire sale of laptops in retail and online stores. The Alliance of Concerned Teachers (ACT) Philippines said that DepEd failed to pay its contractor in the handling and distribution of billions of pesos worth of laptops to public schools which caused the subcontractors to sell the items to surplus shops to recover their investments. ACT called for a comprehensive report on how DepEd used its funds as well as a concrete plan on how public funds can be recovered, and projects still be realized.

Australian universities are split on whether to adopt a new tool which claims to detect AI-generated plagiarism with a near-perfect success rate, citing concerns over out-of-date models and the minimal notice the sector was given to assess the issue. Turnitin’s detection tool cites a 98% efficacy rate at picking up the “high probability” of AI. Out of twelve universities, three have adopted the tool and several were considering integrating it into their detection programmes.