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A number of senior officials in the Eastern Cape have been accused of corruption in relation to an R1 billion-school nutrition programme in the province; another case involves irregularities in relation to school infrastructure provisioning or allegations of corruption in the awarding of a contract to EduSolutions by the Limpopo Department of Education. The contract for the procurement of textbooks for schools in the province was canceled in 2012 after millions had been paid to EduSolutions.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up an offensive against the Delhi government and the ruling Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) over corruption in the construction of classrooms. For the 1,033 schools under the Delhi government, the amount of the budget was 23.51 per cent, while for the 743 schools under the North Delhi Municipal Corporation, the Delhi government allotted only 1.46 per cent from the budget. AAP increased the cost of projects for the benefit of only those it favoured.

Politicians, senior education officials, headmasters, and businesspeople are taking advantage of their positions to line their pockets with state funds. According to a study, the acts of corruption in Thailand range from the embezzling of state funds, colluding to mark up prices of educational and school construction materials, as well as demanding bribes from parents who want their children to be enrolled in a particular school. Irresponsible officials and school directors steal about 30% of the total budget.

Since 2009, education and health have suffered cuts and multiple corruption scandals. Over the past decade, spending on education and culture has dropped from 32.9% of the central government budget to 19.9%. Students have no library, no computer classes, and requests for funding to replace asbestos seeping from a primary school’s roof in San Pedro Sula were declined by central and local authorities. ‘The teachers and parents raised $1,500 through fundraising events and collection tins at traffic lights to pay for repairs’ said a primary school teacher.

According to Transparency International, 66 per cent of the money Nigerian governments allocate to education is stolen by corrupt officials. Resource misallocation, corrupt procurement, exchange of sex for grades, examination malpractices, fake qualifications, teacher absenteeism, and corrupt recruitment practices are just some examples of the challenges the education systems is facing. This affects the quality of education, inclusion and learning outcomes with devastating consequences for national economic growth.

Two teachers have been arrested after practicing at Seme Secondary school for eight and two years’ respectively. They got their jobs by using fake qualifications. It is said that the Mpumalanga Department of Education suffered a combined loss of more than R2.4m. The department apparently became suspicious about their qualifications in 2017 and asked them to resubmit their qualifications. The two will return to the Volkrust Regional Court on February 6.