Search Page

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 Enumeration Committee of the Federal Government of Nigeria’s homegrown feeding programme has uncovered 349 ghost schools in Nasarawa state. The Committee discovered that some officials were pocketing the money meant for school meals. Two officials were suspended and replaced, however, calls to remove Nasarawa state from the programme were rejected in order to avoid punishing the poor children benefiting from the scheme.

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.

Sindh Education Curriculum Department has decided to shut down 10,000 “not viable” or inactive schools across the province. The Supreme Court has issued orders to shut down ghost schools and act against teachers who have been receiving salaries without performing their duties.

The World Bank has suspended the first tranche of $100 million in a programme to fund free schools in DR Congo after a November report found fake invoices, lists of teachers filled with fake names at non-existent schools, and alleged embezzlement of 63 billion Congolese francs ($31 million). Two senior officials, including the head of teachers’ payroll, are in pre-trial detention.

About 22,556 ghost workers were discovered in local government pay system in Borno after two verifications exercises on local government staff and primary teachers. Reports show that N183.6m has been recovered in bogus teacher’s salary while N237m from ghost local government staff. The total number of primary school teachers in the 27 local government areas was 26,450 before the verification, however, 2, 204 did not appear before the committee.

The All Meghalaya Minority Students’ Union (AMMSU) have filled a complaint to the commissioner and secretary of the state regarding the BPN Zaman Girl’s UP School. According to the president of AMMSU, a local of the village of Phersakandi, no one has heard or studied in this school. However, since 1992, grants have continued to come to the school and its fake teachers, and public funds have been misused for decades.

In 2018 an audit conducted to review the Basic Education Community Schools program authorized by the Public Accounts Committee revealed over 2000 ghost schools on paper but no teacher on record. Several years have passed and new cases have been reported. Yet criminals continue to embezzle money to bribe government officials to allow fake teachers to keep fake jobs and usurp salaries of honest teachers and deserving students.

A social activist alleged that large-scale corruption was being carried out in the District Education Office and nine girls’ schools in Bazgarha, Kamarkhel are locked. Dozens of female teachers of these closed schools are still receiving salaries at home, but paying a considerable portion of their salaries as a bribe to specific frontmen of the District Education Office. According to local sources, this practice of mismanagement is continuing since 2015.

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.