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Massive leaks have discredited the country’s education system. The French, history and geography tests will resume on 10 July. At the Immaculate Conception School of Dakar, a candidate for the baccalaureate was caught by the exam supervisor as he was consulting the answers to the history and geography tests on his laptop. This discovery of cheating at the Immaculate Conception School triggered a tsunami that is now shaking up the entire Senegalese education system.

Kenya’s Commission for University Education has issued stringent new guidelines for the appointment and promotion of academic staff in a system that gives heavy emphasis to publication in reputable, peer-reviewed journals and discourages publication in so-called predatory journals. While the move is intended to raise academic standards, it has also raised concerns about the hurdles to publication facing many Kenyan academics.

Following a directive in late-2016 of the President of the 5th-Phase Government of Tanzania, verification (by a Special Presidential Task Force) of the academic credentials of reportedly 400 035 civil servants who draw emoluments from Government coffers unearthed much rot! The probe revealed that 9,932 public service employees got where they are today on the back of educational certificates which were either forged outright, borrowed, bought or stolen.

Lecturers in universities and colleges as well as teachers in public and private schools who are found guilty of abusing students risk having their degrees and diplomas cancelled by the Government to curb rampant abuse, especially of female learners. The Deputy Minister of Higher and Tertiary Education, Science and Technology Development said there was an urgent need to curb the surge in sexual abuse of learners in schools, colleges and universities. Punishments such as imprisonment or expulsion from work was not enough since perpetrators always ended up teaching elsewhere using their diplomas or degrees.

The Education Cabinet Secretary has vowed to ensure that people using fake university degree papers are unearthed. Addressing principals at All Saints Cathedral Anglican in Nairobi, the education CS lashed out at those who want to assume leadership roles by irregularly acquiring academic qualifications, saying the ministry will rein in on academic miscreants in an effort to promote integrity. He urged the principals to be at the forefront in instilling virtues and challenged them to take responsibility for failures in their institutions.

The Education Ministry recently appointed 157 new secondary school head teachers and 594 deputy head teachers. The State minister for higher education has asked the newly appointed secondary school head teachers to spearhead the war against corruption in the schools they will be leading. Speaking at the start of a two day induction of newly appointed head teachers at Kitante hill secondary school, Kampala, he challenged teachers to be honest and prudently manage resources at their disposal.

In South Africa, an incident at a school in Soweto revived the debate over false teacher qualifications. This week, a former primary school teacher stabbed a director who had suspended him. The teacher was dismissed after the school discovered, following a complaint from parents, that he had lied about his qualifications and had no diploma. According to the South African Council of Educators, dozens or even hundreds of teachers lie about their qualifications.