A new report by the Education Service Commission (ESC) has revealed that since 2003, 1,000 ghost teachers have been on the government payroll. Over 600 ‘ghost teachers’ from various secondary schools and tertiary institutions accessed the payroll with fake appointment letters signed by officials, while 400 teachers lacked practising licences. The report says that in few schools, appointed teachers were not teaching but sub-contracted private teachers to perform their duties.

Kazakhstan’s anti-corruption strategies are showing early signs of progress, a top official at the country’s Agency for Civil Service Affairs and Fighting Corruption said. Among the cited projects was Sanaly Urpak (Conscious Generation), established in Almaty, which seeks to minimise corruption in the education system. The project has developed an optimal solution for curbing corruption at the secondary and higher education level, as well as disseminating the academic honesty principle. University academic integrity and cohesion ratings will be issued annually based on project estimates.

Kenya’s Commission for University Education has issued stringent new guidelines for the appointment and promotion of academic staff in a system that gives heavy emphasis to publication in reputable, peer-reviewed journals and discourages publication in so-called predatory journals. While the move is intended to raise academic standards, it has also raised concerns about the hurdles to publication facing many Kenyan academics.

A large number of universities, colleges and schools organised walks, seminars and debating competition to raise awareness among students, faculty and other staff. The Student Affairs Director at the University of Engineering and Technology (UET), speaking on the occasion of a debating competition organised to mark the day, said that zero tolerance would be shown against corruption and malpractices.