Education minister Andrew Mulenga has stressed the need for accountability and transparency in the education sector to ensure benefits reach the intended target. The minister said at a joint annual review in Lusaka that there was need for accountability because the government was accountable to the people and education was the cornerstone for development.

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.

Corruption threatens good governance, sustainable development, democratic process and fair business environment. Young Citizen reporter caught students from Mapambano Tuition Center expressing their views in a debate whose motion is: teaching corruption subject from primary school level will help to eradicate corruption.

A report from the World Bank, "Africa Development Indicators 2010", has concluded that "quiet corruption" faced by common citizens is undermining the continent's development efforts and adversely affects inflows of investments.

University education in Africa is regarded as key to a better future, and has the potential to provide the tools that people need to improve livelihoods and live with dignity. But according to Transparency International, systemic corruption is eroding benefits that could be accrued from higher education.

Global Corruption Report: Education, released on 1st October, argues that corruption has not just raised the cost of higher education but has also hindered socio-economic progress in many African countries by diminishing the quality of university education.

For Dutch Youth Representative for UNESCO, education has to come to the forefront of the development debate. He states that the implementation and effectiveness of many education programmes is hampered by corruption, and that young people can play a vital role in combatting this.

Corruption is rife in Africa, costing the continent $148 billion each year - money that could be better spent on improving education, health services or infrastructure. Citizens are demanding better. Last year, mobile penetration rose above 80% in Africa and an increasingly tech savvy citizenry are beginning to utilise this technology to hold their governments to account.

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.

The former Minister State for Information and Communication stated during a debate competition organized by the Association of Principals of Islamic Private Schools (APIPS) in Jos, that exam malpractice is destroying one of the pillars of development and poses a serious threat to the future of education in the country.