Maharashtra State Council of Examination Commissioner and two other accomplices were arrested for alleged involvement in malpractices in the Teachers Eligibility Test. The fraud committed was worth Rs 4.25 crore, and the candidates were asked to pay Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh for passing the exam. A committee headed by Education Chief Secretary has been constituted to thoroughly investigate the case.

Four Eastern Cape Department of Education officials and a businessman are facing charges of corruption, fraud, theft, and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act for R59 million meant for schoolbooks. Under the pretence that schools were adequately resourced with textbooks, they decided without permission from the National Treasury to shift and use 80% of the budget for the procurement of supplementary resource material, mainly IT equipment and photocopiers.

To prevent the forging of information, a new digital platform will allow learners from primary to university levels to have an identification number. Schools will update data about their learners, teaching and non-teaching staff, infrastructure and facilities including physical education and sports through their online EMIS user accounts. The new system is aimed to eliminate ghost workers and improve transparency and accountability across the country.

Sindh Education Curriculum Department has decided to shut down 10,000 “not viable” or inactive schools across the province. The Supreme Court has issued orders to shut down ghost schools and act against teachers who have been receiving salaries without performing their duties.

The co-owner of an online charter school network in California was accused of stealing tens of millions of dollars intended for primary education. He used a variety of schemes to inflate school enrollment to obtain state education funds, including getting small school districts to allow online charter schools, paying sports leagues, camps, and other youth programs to collect student information, distorting school calendars and moving children between online campuses to obtain maximum funding.

Examination fraud remains the main challenge for the Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board (JAMB), especially amongst parents who constantly ask for their children to receive favorable treatment, regardless of whether they meet requirements. JAMB is also fighting corruption in higher education institutions that admit students outside of the guidelines of the Ministry of Education.