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The Quality Council for General and Further Education and Training (Umalusi) is concerned about the allegations of cheating involving candidates and teachers. According to the reports, the candidates in question paid teachers to have access to the answers posted on a WhatsApp group during toilet breaks while the examinations were in session. While an investigation is conducted by the Department of Basic Education, the CEO of Umalusi reassured the public that rigorous and robust quality assurance mechanisms will be used to safeguard the integrity and credibility of the National Senior Certificate.

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.

The Chalinze Modern Islamic Pre and Primary School examination centre has been suspended by the Government for examination malpractice. Five students had their examination numbers altered with no clear explanation from the invigilators. The minister demanded that the owner of the school sack all teachers involved in the cheating scandal, or risk permanent deregistration of the establishment. The National Examination Council of Tanzania corrected the candidates’ examination numbers and the results affected by this malpractice.

Academic dishonesty including dissertation fraud is on rise universities in Africa. Only 24 African countries out of 54 have institutional repositories. This means that dissertations and other sources of information that can be plagiarised only exist in hard copies. According to a professor from Uganda, one way to eliminate contract writing is to establish a rigorous process throughout the dissertation writing and defence process. The president of the Southern African Students Union believes that paying lecturers decent salaries will lead to a decrease in the number of people engaging in ghost-writing for students.

A recent study made some alarming findings on the extent of plagiarism and other forms of unethical academic behaviour at Moroccan tertiary education institutions. About half of the respondents admitted to having plagiarised text; however, the study confirms that plagiarism is not always intentional, particularly among scholars whose native language is not English. One way to reduce plagiarism is to provide training on research integrity as well as on business ethics.

To prevent the leakage of question papers and other malpractices, the West African Examination Council (WAEC) has tightened the security of the ongoing West African Senior School Certificate Examination. Ten cases of breaches of WAEC rules were identified, including people linked to rogue websites, while the suspects in three cases were convicted and fined by the court. According to the head of Public Affairs of WAECA, schools accused of malpractice will be monitored and confidential material and examination papers will be stored.

The University of Johannesburg (UJ) is the first South African tertiary institution to use blockchain technology as an additional security measure to protect its certificates against alteration or falsification. The Director of Central Academic Administration calls on all tertiary institutions to collectively improve the integrity of their qualifications and enable companies to verify their qualifications easily and at no cost, which will help to prevent certificate fraud and curb counterfeiting.

The National Commission of Medical, Dental and Pharmacy Students of Morocco (CNEMEP) has asked the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education to investigate screenshots of conversations on WhatsApp groups showing medical school candidates cheating in their admission exams. The CNEMEP has announced legal and administrative procedures against the parties involved. If necessary, the exam will be repeated to give all applicants equal opportunities and protect the reputation of the faculty.

The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) is investigating dozens of cases involving politicians, State and public officers over forged degrees, illegal allocation of resources, irregular employment, and approval of suspected pending bills. According to EACC’s chief executive officer, money and assets will be recovered from politicians who used forged academic certificates to win elective posts, even from those who retired.