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The Rwanda Ministry of Education (MINEDUC) has ordered the temporary closure of Rwanda Polytechnic Regional College Kigali, in order to investigate serious cases of theft and misappropriation of public resources. According to sources, college equipment allegedly disappeared, and top officials and several employees involved in the management of the institution have been interrogated and arrested.

The Chalinze Modern Islamic Pre and Primary School examination centre has been suspended by the Government for examination malpractice. Five students had their examination numbers altered with no clear explanation from the invigilators. The minister demanded that the owner of the school sack all teachers involved in the cheating scandal, or risk permanent deregistration of the establishment. The National Examination Council of Tanzania corrected the candidates’ examination numbers and the results affected by this malpractice.

An investigation found nearly 170 residents who allegedly defrauded subsidies from the Continuing Education Development Plan, which involved over MOP1 million. Between 2016 and 2019, two staff members attracted residents to apply to the Education and Youth Affairs Bureau for the Continuing Education Development Plan and apply for subsidised courses. The centre reported untrue attendance records and colluded with instructors and students to forge attendance records while the students received cash rebates amounting to half of the subsidies paid or took other courses held by the centre for free.

A survey of 2,000 university students and 500 employees conducted by the Center for the Development of Youth Activism (CROA), found every fourth student has had an encounter with corruption - such as paying for a better grade. In addition to bribes and coerced textbook purchases, some students were pressured to join political parties and extorted for sexual favours. CROA is not only passing on the complaints to universities for a follow-up investigation, but is also planning anti-corruption training for professors, staff, and students. And it is working to include conflict of interest in universities’ codes of ethics.

Three Georgia women and an Alabama man pleaded guilty to conspiring to defraud the US Department of Education’s Federal financial aid programs worth millions of dollars. According to the Justice Department, they admitted enrolling people who were not eligible to attend college and completing financial aid applications using fake students’ names; they also did fake students’ homework and exams and manipulated grade requirements to continue qualifying for Federal financial aid.

The South African Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) has uncovered “multimillion-rand tender corruption” at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme and has handed over all information to the Special Investigating Unit. OUTA said its revelations follow an investigation into corruption and irregular contracts at the Services Sector Education and Training Authority after a successful Promotion of Access to Information application relating to a ZAR170 million (US$9.6 million) tender for a biometric attendance monitoring system.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is the first South African tertiary institution to use blockchain technology as an additional security measure to protect its certificates against alteration or falsification. The Director of Central Academic Administration calls on all tertiary institutions to collectively improve the integrity of their qualifications and enable companies to verify their qualifications easily and at no cost, which will help to prevent certificate fraud and curb counterfeiting.

The Department of Justice reports that two education officials have been sentenced to jail after pleading guilty to fraudulently enrolling people in virtual schools and then claiming money from public funds on their behalf. The districts received payments from the Alabama Education Trust Fund as if the students were attending public schools while the defendants misappropriated state money through direct cash payments and payments to third-party contractors owned by various co-conspirators.