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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.

South Africa's Finance Minister has advocated an aid transparency initiative focused on monitoring aid flow and how the aid is managed. He underlined the importance that the huge volumes of aid that flows into Africa are adequately monitored and tracked. The minister welcomed the support of Sweden to help return monies stashed in European banks.

Although the post-conflict period ended officially in 2006, the Ministry of Education is still not able to effectively monitor teaching and learning processes nationwide. The system records teachers who do not physically exist, teachers that do not teach (´ghost teachers`), and teachers receiving salaries from several schools. In mid-2006, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) placed two experts in the Planning Directorate of the Education Ministry in Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, to set up an Education Management Information System (EMIS). This article summarizes the results of their investigations.

There is a certain frustration at the Mpraeso Secondary School over the administration's attempts to improve accountability and transparency. The implementation of anti-corruption measures through the automation of accounting and administrative procedures as a means of checking and curbing corruption has been bogged by official apathy. The computerization programme, 'School Management Programme', that could have cost the school about ¢5 million a few months ago will now cost the school almost double that amount.

Poor management and a lack of transparency are damaging the delivery of primary education in South Africa, according to a new report from Transparency International. The report shows that one quarter of the schools in the districts surveyed were considered to be at high risk of corruption, and one in three principals considered embezzlement a significant concern.

All universities in Vietnam must publish their financial accounts and information about educational standards on their websites by 15 April, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Education and Training told a conference in Hanoi this month.

In a bid to encourage transparency and stamp out corruption and fraud in universities, India's education ministry is preparing guidelines that will for the first time force private higher education institutions to make their accounts public.

Staff members at the University of Namibia (Unam) say they live in constant fear of victimization and threats by those in management positions who are running the institution in an autocratic manner. "A climate of fear is preventing open and transparent debate on day-to-day issues". They further accused the management of not following fair and transparent measures in the selection and appointment of all management positions at the end of last year.

Zambia's government has decided to scrap its national bursary scheme and replace it with a transparent student loans scheme, following controversies including allegations of corruption that have dogged the bursary initiative for years.

The Ministry of Education has launched a new curricula for both primary and secondary schools in Iraq. The aim is to raise awareness and understanding of the concepts of integrity, transparency, human rights and honesty. The new curricula was designed by the Ministry of Education, in collaboration with the UNDP. This innovative initiative is the first of its kind to be introduced in Iraq.