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Before each school year, the Ministry of Education publishes a list of approved textbooks, from which teachers will choose the ones they will use in class. For the 2017-2018 school year, the list is 30 pages long. There is big money in school books, explains a publisher who wants to remain anonymous. "Getting on the list is the Holy Grail, and no holds are barred. Imagine a little, it's a huge market, more than 5 million students! Everyone wants their share of the pie: authors, publishers, printers or distributors, even if the methods they use are not always legal.”

The Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau (KNAB) detained Riga City Council deputy and University of Latvia deputy rector for accepting a bribe of 20 000 euros. KNAB has discovered information that proves the state official, while in the post of procurement committee’s deputy chairperson had accepted a bribe from businessmen, registering it as a donation to an association.

A number of senior officials in the Eastern Cape have been accused of corruption in relation to an R1 billion-school nutrition programme in the province; another case involves irregularities in relation to school infrastructure provisioning or allegations of corruption in the awarding of a contract to EduSolutions by the Limpopo Department of Education. The contract for the procurement of textbooks for schools in the province was canceled in 2012 after millions had been paid to EduSolutions.