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The academic spectrum across several Pakistani universities has become infected with the deadly plague of plagiarism. Academic integrity seems to have melted in the heat of churning out research papers to receive more grants, promotions and other benefits.

Karachi: A list of 34 officers of Sindh Education Department has been forwarded to National Accountability Bureau (NAB). According to the list sent by Education Department, more than 10,000 fake recruitments were done during the former Education Minister’s tenure.

Plagiarism at the higher education level has been an open secret, with many suspected plagiarists holding senior faculty positions in different universities across the country. But in a comical turn, the Higher Education Commission recently gave its best research paper award to a scholar who had been blacklisted by the regulatory body in 2008 for publishing a plagiarized paper.

The recent Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize should remind people that there are more children out of school in Pakistan (5.5 million) than any country in the world except Nigeria. But because of corruption, merely investing in the Pakistani education system is not sufficient; rigorous monitoring and the creation of an accountable system are needed to make the system fairer and functional.

A recent survey found that more than 6.000 schools across Sindh province are not functioning. The country has a poor record and, in some areas, one of the biggest problems is ensuring teachers’ presence at work. Al Jazeera's Nicole Johnston reports from Sindh Province.

In a 100-page detailed judgement regarding the condition of government schools, Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry said that a study – conducted by Basic Education Community Schools (BECS) Project in 2012-2013 through a third party validation team hired by the gover..

The Punjab government has amended Punjab Universities' Acts to bring vice-chancellors under scrutiny after identifying unabated misuse of powers by them under the garb of emergency powers. It reported that almost all Punjab universities' vice-chancellors had appointed top officials in universities, including registrars, treasurers and controllers of examinations by giving additional charge to their "favorite" faculty members.

Citizen's Report Cards (CRCs) are participatory surveys that gather user feedback on the quality and performance of public services, to empower citizens. Without a matching improvement in political discourse, the state of education in Pakistan cannot improve substantially. During the launch of the research report "Social Accountability in Education through CRCs" experts were convinced that political parties can play a significant role in educating youth.

University of Peshawar's Vice Chancellor has been found involved in plagiarism by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) that was constituted to probe into the matter.