The Accountability Court Hyderabad gave five years imprisonment along with a fine of Rs 30 million to four officers from the education department. They have recruited 208 candidates in violation of the procedure and direction of the department and without checking the qualification certificates from relevant boards. According to the National Accountability Bureau, they had inflicted a loss of Rs 127.48 million on the public treasury for wages paid to these employees.

287,000 ghost students were found registered in schools under the Punjab Education Foundation (PEF) programme. Schools, government officials, and NGOs are suspected to be involved in the preparation of a fake record Rs1.1 billion per year. A special audit of the funds received by PEF is being conducted and strict measures will be taken against the officers involved in this corruption case.

The Anti-Corruption Establishment (ACE) arrested three secondary school teachers for their involvement in taking bribes and making fake appointments based on fake degrees in the Punjab Education Department. Some influential political figures have made efforts to obtain the release of arrested teachers, but have failed due to ACE’s investigation into this issue.

The Secretary Secondary Education urged that all the District Education Officers identify all the ghost teachers in their district. He directed them to submit details of all the closed and inactive schools. They should also report completion of the Public Sector Development Programme schemes to the respective construction firms only after complete satisfaction and visits to the schools. Those neglecting their duties will be held responsible.

To fill the gap between demand and constant increasing supply, many players in the higher education sector live by the saying that ‘fake it if you cannot make it’. South of Punjab has been hit by fake education. In Alipur, a branch of a known college chain claimed to be affiliated with GC University, Faisalabad. Many students paid fees to get registered, however, the university website doesn’t recognize it as an affiliated college. The robbed students moved administration and made complaints. But the institutions are supported by the feudal lords in the area.

The elementary and secondary education department has terminated the services of 104 teachers and other employees in the merged tribal districts for securing jobs on fake degrees or absenting themselves from duty for a long time during the last two decades. The department of education will examine the academic degrees and certificates of all employees in tribal districts.

The Provincial Inspection Team (PIT) detected embezzled amount of Rs19.4 million from just 24 Iqra Farogh-e-Taleem Voucher Scheme (IFTVS) schools in Mansehra instead of the 89 schools registered by the KP government. The Provincial Bureau of Statistics (BOS) survey identified 23,071 out of schoolchildren for their enrolment in district Mansehra. However, the PIT inquiry found, “the data collected by BOS was erroneous as per 100% validation by district programme officer only 4,183 students were physically available, whereas the PIT also found a huge variation in the data.”

Sindh Anti-Corruption Establishment has found corruption and misuse of authority in Sindh Education Department district Jacobabad involving illegal inducting of hundreds of fake teachers, getting illegal financial benefits in the name of fake employees’ retirement, pension and death claims from department and life insurance company. The investigation continues after the fraud of millions of rupees has been reported, as well as the illegal role and abuse of authority from officers of the Education and Finance Departments.

In order to fight corruption and discourage private schools to operate a cartel, the Supreme Court in Pakistan has not allowed an increase in school fees of more than 5% per year. Many directors of private schools took money from parents for security deposits and admission fees and earned profits on that money. An Auditor General report highlighted how in public schools some teachers received very good salaries, but they were not doing justice to what they receive while teachers in private schools earned far less amount but they perform better.