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Feeding schemes in our primary schools were implemented from 1994 as part of the Reconstruction and Development Programme. The main aim of the feeding schemes was to ensure that the basic nutritional needs of millions of malnourished South African children living in poverty were met. Meanwhile school feeding schemes that offer many of these children the only meal of their day are being threatened by bureaucratic inefficiencies and corrupt practises on the part of independent suppliers.

A new approach in development aid could be fuelling corruption. Western countries are testing the "budget support model", whereby funds are given directly to the government in order to reduce poverty. A report claims that up to June 2002, government expenditure was not supported by the correct documentation.

The annual report of Transparency International on corruption perception worldwide shows that progress has been made in Sub-Saharan Africa and Eastern Europe. The report also underlines that corruption most afflicts the poorest countries where governance is nonexistent and that money acquired through corrupt practice often come from multinationals based in rich countries.

Transparency International's 2008 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) highlights the fatal link between poverty, failed institutions and graft. But other notable backsliders in the 2008 CPI indicate that the strength of oversight mechanisms is also at risk among the wealthiest. In low-income countries, rampant corruption jeopardizes the global fight against poverty, threatening to derail the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). According to TI's 2008 Global Corruption Report, unchecked levels of corruption would add US $50 billion (€35 billion) - or nearly half of annual global aid outlays – to the cost of achieving the MDG on water and sanitation.

The Ministry of National Education of Indonesia proposed a bill to further deregulate the Nation's universities. But the privatization of leading universities will lead, according to the Indonesia Corruption Watch, to the exclusion of the children from less well-off families. The high costs of university entrance and passage in the way have indeed tended to either reduce or eliminate students from the poorer provinces of Indonesia. Major corruption cases break out in Indonesia on a regular basis and there is strong evidence that higher university tuition fees increased corruption in the sector.

The President has denied the claim of schools to charge monetary lunch fee for pupils under the Universal Primary Education (UPE), arguing that this program was conceived for poor families that could not afford additional fees. Besides, he declared that the pay of un-necessary amounts of money will create additional barriers to the free UPE as the ones that already exist; expensive uniforms, books, tours and others items.

Massive quantities of food grains and fuel, meant to be distributed through the public distribution system or to be given to the poor under welfare schemes like food-for-work and school meals for poor children, have been stolen over the years and sold on the open market.

A mixture of endemic poverty and corruption in the education system and government abuses have not allowed children in rural areas access to basic education. Investment in basic education is crucial for future development, as 40% of the Honduran population is under 14.

A new report says corruption in education systems worldwide disproportionately burdens the poor. Transparency International said in a survey released on October 1 that almost one in five people worldwide paid bribes to education services last year.

Calls for greater government action have been made as university students have emerged as prime targets for Ponzi scheme fraud. This after at least 4,000 students from one university were threatened with expulsion after they diverted their tuition fees worth a total of US$6.5 million into an online Ponzi scheme which has since suspended its operations without explanation. At Osun State University over 4,000 students were served with notice that they may be expelled from the university if they failed to pay, by the end of February, all outstanding tuition fees. At a time of severe economic recession, the loss of the investment adds pressure on parents, many of who are victims of Nigeria’s massive unemployment rate.