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As another school year begins in Afghanistan, the country continues to face insecurity, an epidemic of corruption within its education system and old customs that keep many students and qualified teachers away from classrooms. Violence and corruption are problems that can hardly be solved on grassroots level only. Increased violence forced more than 1,000 schools to shut their doors since 2016 and according to a report compiled by the country’s independent corruption monitor, corruption is “devastating” the education system and the country.

National Accountability Bureau (NAB) officials have started collecting evidence pertaining to alleged corruption and financial mismanagement of at least Rs 4 billion in the Prime Minister’s Education Reform Programme. The former prime minister had given at least Rs 4 billion to improve the conditions of 423 federal public educational institutions that come under the purview of the Capital Administration and Development Division (CADD) through the Prime Minister’s Education Reform Programme. Corruption and financial mismanagement has allegedly been done in funds allocated for paint jobs, furniture procurement, and construction and renovation projects.

Six senior government officials in the Ministry of Education have been relieved of their duties in relation to massive corruption, abuse of office, fictitious procurements and embezzlement of public resources spanning more than 20 years. The President has also directed that the Contracts Committee of the same ministry be "disbanded with immediate effect" in relation to the "mishandling of the process for procuring furniture for selected primary schools in Uganda under the Ministry of Education and Sports".

A senior lawyer and human right activist has called for proper monitoring and utilization of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) Fund. The UBE fund is an annual grant by the federal government to help states upgrade their primary education facilities in order to provide a good education for children across the nation. In his statement, the activist warned that the fund may be diverted by politicians desperately looking for money to buy votes during the forthcoming general election in the country. He said the World Bank gave Nigeria a grant $611 million (N219 billion) for the UBE scheme.