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Poor management and a lack of transparency are damaging the delivery of primary education in South Africa, according to a new report from Transparency International. The report shows that one quarter of the schools in the districts surveyed were considered to be at high risk of corruption, and one in three principals considered embezzlement a significant concern.

Kenya is no longer a country of focus for aid from Canada, the country's new High Commissioner has said, due to massive graft. He cited the scandal surrounding the Sh103 million embezzled from the Free Primary Education programme.

Two professors at the University of Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, who alerted the law about embezzlement of funds, are facing the sack on the orders of the Minister of Higher and University Education.

Le directeur provincial de l'éducation confirme que le principal d'une école du soir, au nord de Quito, fait l'objet d'une enquête suite à des soupçons de détournement de fonds et de harcèlement sexuel. Le principal, à la tête de l'école depuis 23 ans, a demandé aux étudiants d'acheter des uniformes et des joggings exclusivement à l'école ; en outre, il a embauché deux de ses proches en tant qu'enseignants alors que l'un d'entre eux n'avait jamais enseigné.

Operaciones y Descuentos Diversos, S.A. (Oddisa), a company chosen to prepare and distribute school lunches is under investigation for misappropriation of funds and money laundering. The many transactions, including accounts in Barbados, Luxembourg, and Paris, plus reports from schools in the provinces that stores of school-lunch products were burgled and other warehouses burned down, made it impossible to recover records.

Few people enter the teaching profession for the money. Teachers repeatedly describe it as "a vocation", widely recognized as a euphemism for poorly paid. But for a few enterprising teachers, the education system is rife with opportunities for personal financial gain. A report on corruption in education, published this week by UNESCO highlights ways in which heads, teachers and education officials can extort and embezzle school funds.