Search Page

The African Union report shows that at least 57 percent of people who make contact with schools in Malawi pay bribes. Informal payments threaten children’s rights and welfare. For example, informal charges by teachers for teaching, and for additional items such as school meals, books, uniforms or exams can drive poorer students in particular to miss school. In addition, the acquisition of fake or fraudulent qualifications affect the learning outcomes of children.

According to Transparency International, 66 per cent of the money Nigerian governments allocate to education is stolen by corrupt officials. Resource misallocation, corrupt procurement, exchange of sex for grades, examination malpractices, fake qualifications, teacher absenteeism, and corrupt recruitment practices are just some examples of the challenges the education systems is facing. This affects the quality of education, inclusion and learning outcomes with devastating consequences for national economic growth.

The quality of Nigerian university graduates continues to be a source of concern with many of the country’s academics and stakeholders pointing to the prevalence of plagiarism and academic dishonesty in universities as a contributing factor. Last month a specialist in development economics was reported to have said that 70% of graduates churned out in recent times by Nigerian universities and other higher institutions of learning were “unemployable”.

Member of the committee on education and scientific research of the House of Representatives called for installing cameras in all examination halls at Egyptian universities to prevent cheating and lack of discipline. He will send the proposal to the Ministry of Higher Education as cameras will prevent and detect the growing incidents of mass copying by students and reveal any problem that would happen between students and monitors in the exam. This move is part of Egypt’s efforts to enhance the quality of the country’s university education and to deter churning out low quality graduates especially since the country’s examination system has been plagued by cheating over the recent years especially in high schools.

In the latest education scam from Bihar, it appears that students can purchase top-scoring intermediate certificates for around Rs 5 lakh without even having to write the exam. Moreover, many schools and colleges have been getting their affiliations by improper means. All these skeletons are tumbling out in the light of probes launched after a TV sting found this year’s top-scoring students struggling to answer basic questions about their subjects. Most memorably, one top student said that political science is about cooking. The rot in the state of education has certainly been a long time cooking.

The National Commission on Higher Education says students seeking enrollment in universities in the country should inquire whether such institutions are registered with the Ministry of Education. The commission’s Director General said these fake or substandard universities offer degrees in various professions at poor quality to students.

An ITV documentary has investigated whether some schools are taking duplicitous measures to achieve top marks. The problem is said to have developed after league tables based on exam results were introduced in 1992, putting more pressure on schools to perform well. Schools can obtain more financial rewards if they feature highly in league tables, while the jobs of heads and teachers are at risk if a bad Ofsted inspection means the school goes into special measures.