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An associate dean of academic services spends a lot of time studying, lamenting and worrying about cheating in universities, but a Montreal-based online service that propels the activity to a new level made even her wince. The website unemployedprofessors.com has teachers writing papers for students. "So you can play while we make your papers go away" is its tag line.

After studying for two years to be a teacher, one student found out that the degree her school offers is worthless. It is a story being replayed across many Indian cities. Poorly regulated, unaccredited and often entirely fake colleges have sprung up as demand for higher education accelerates, driven by rising aspirations and a bulging youth population.

Malindi's deputy District Education Officer has asked head teachers to ensure that students complete the syllabus in time. He said failure by teachers to complete the syllabus early hurts the students' performance in national exams. She said completing the syllabus in time will encourage good performance and curb any irregularities in the exam.

The National Council for Teacher Education has drafted a professional code for school teachers that aims to restore "dignity and integrity" to the vocation of teaching. Everyone would agree that the vocation needs more respect than it receives now, but enforcing ethics must come after and not before dealing with the many and deep-rooted ills that plague school education in the country.

Nowadays corruption is not only the focus of the print and electronic media. Most parents and teachers would agree that the public education can play a role in correcting this situation. Students must be made aware of the application of the values and rules.

A new anti-corruption campaign is being launched in Romania, this one aimed at students who give gifts to their teachers. A civic group and the government have teamed up to produce and distribute a guide that tells students that giving their teachers gifts such as flowers or money is "an act of masked corruption". Beginning next month, the guide will be distributed in Bucharest to high school students.

Gross moral turpitude on the part of a few teachers in the form of sexual assault on female students and deviation from professional ethics by a section of teachers in different tiers of education have become a subject matter of discussion, not only among the guardians but also with almost everyone concerned with education in Bangladesh.

In the past, teachers were heroes and their profession was highly respected. But over the years, things have changed and the profession has become the last career resort for many students. The nation needs to go back to the drawing board in the training and recruitment of teachers, putting emphasis on ethics and professionalism.

The government has launched an education plan that will see corruption becoming a subject in primary and secondary schools as well as in teacher training college syllabuses in the country.

Up to 80 state and private universities may be involved in selling teacher certificates or offering courses without accreditation, according to authorities. The Office of the Higher Education Commission (Ohec), which is investigating a university in Khon Kaen province found to have sold professional teacher certificates to graduates, said it would widen its probe to 77 other providers which had produced an unusually high number of teaching graduates.