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A new report by the Education Service Commission (ESC) has revealed that since 2003, 1,000 ghost teachers have been on the government payroll. Over 600 ‘ghost teachers’ from various secondary schools and tertiary institutions accessed the payroll with fake appointment letters signed by officials, while 400 teachers lacked practising licences. The report says that in few schools, appointed teachers were not teaching but sub-contracted private teachers to perform their duties.

Authorities at the national examination body Uneb accused teachers of orchestrating a grand scheme in schools, that pushed pupils to cheat on the 2020 primary leaving exams. The board withheld the results of 2,220 candidates pending completion of investigations into malpractices. Cheating occurs in a number of ways, including parents, in some of the top schools being asked to commit to paying a fee in order for their children to receive good results in the primary leaving exam.

In 2019, the Ministry of Education and Sports ordered the online registration of all teachers in Kwania to streamline their services and help clear ghost workers. According to the Ministry of Education records from January, over 15,000 teachers turned up for the validation exercise with fake documents, whereas 52,900 teachers were registered under the Teacher Management Information System and received certificates.

Three teachers were placed in prison for conspiracy and examination malpractice. They disobeyed the Uganda Examinations Board’ code of conduct and revealed the content of the 2018 Primary Leaving Examinations paper and then sold them to different schools in Buyende and Kamuli districts.