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Sindh Education Department has launched an investigation after a primary school teacher in Pakistan was granted maternity leave three times in a single year. Corruption and negligence in the Government education sector are widespread in Sindh with many cases of ghost schools and teachers. A video revealed a state primary school in Mirpurkhas only existed on paper. Salaries were disbursed monthly to fictitious faculty, while the school grounds housed animals.

The quality of education in Pakistan is extremely poor by world standards. Children study the same books as their parents did, or probably their grandparents. In Sindh, students who don't sit exams end up passing them. In Lahore, at the main examination centres located next to the board office, bribing and cheating are common practices. Professors are absent from classes and concentrate on maintaining their relations with influential individuals. Examination staff close the examination rooms to those who refuse to abide by the routine.

A teacher working for a school in Pune approached the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) complaining that two accounting officers of the state education department demanded a bribe of Rs 6,000 from him to verify documents relating to wage fixation under the Sixth and Seventh Pay Commission scheme. The ACB arrested them, and a first information report was registered under the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Many job seekers try to secure a place by cheating in exams, including buying exam papers or paying someone else to take the test on their behalf. Police stopped a bus in Udaipur that was on its way to an examination centre which was carrying teachers and candidates. Four government schoolteachers were found solving questions for at least 20 candidates. 48 people have been arrested and the examination process cancelled. Since 2018, at least 12 recruitment drives have been cancelled in the state after the test was leaked.

An official of the Basic Education Community Schools from South Punjab was caught selling around 3,500 textbooks. He also blackmailed teachers in Pakpattan and Okara into paying him between Rs1,000-Rs1,500 for the delivery of books to the education warehouse. Reports state teachers complained several times to relevant education authorities but received no response.

The vice-president of the Ceylon Teachers Union has accused the Northern Province of misleading the education administration into corruption and bribery for years. Governors had been informed on several occasions about malpractices and abuses that took place in primary schools and notorious girls’ schools in Jaffna without any action being taken.

Maharashtra State Council of Examination Commissioner and two other accomplices were arrested for alleged involvement in malpractices in the Teachers Eligibility Test. The fraud committed was worth Rs 4.25 crore, and the candidates were asked to pay Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh for passing the exam. A committee headed by Education Chief Secretary has been constituted to thoroughly investigate the case.

Poverty, the rising rate of early dropouts, ghost schools and teachers, low pass rates in the JEST test for primary school teachers are just some of the factors at the heart of the education crisis in Sindh. The biometric mechanism put in place by the Sindh government proved to be counterproductive and has failed to compel ghost teachers to attend school: 6.5 million children are currently out of school.