Corruption rife in world's schools and universities
Pastor Dale Morgan
Corruption rife in world's schools and universities*
Anthea Lipsett
Thursday June 7, 2007
EducationGuardian.co.uk
Bribery and graft in schools and universities is seriously undermining
education systems worldwide and costing governments billions of dollars,
according to a new report funded by Unesco.
The report, "Corrupt schools, corrupt universities: What can be done?",
by Unesco's international institute for educational planning into ethics
and corruption, says education is plagued by rigged calls for tender,
embezzlement, illegal registration fees and academic fraud, among other
corrupt practices.
It says in some countries, leakage of education funding from ministries
to schools can represent up to 80%, not counting salaries.
Recent surveys by Unesco have shown that 'ghost teachers' on school
payrolls, who had either left their posts or never even existed,
represent 5% of salary expenditure in Honduras and 15% in Papua New Guinea.
Bribes and payoffs in teacher recruitment and promotion tend to lower
the quality of teachers, and illegal payments for school entrance and
other hidden costs contribute to low enrolment and high drop-out rates,
the report adds.
Higher education corruption usually takes the form of fake universities,
bogus degrees and accreditation fraud. The report found the number of
fake universities on the internet offering bogus degrees had risen from
200 to 800 in 2000-04.
And in Ukraine, top-ranking officials from private universities admitted
in 2005 that most licensing or accreditation applications, obligatory
for the country's 175 private universities, required some form of
bribery for success.
The report's authors, education specialists Jacques Hallak and Muriel
Poisson, recommend clear regulations, transparent procedures and
explicit policies to help combat corruption.
Leadership and political will at the highest government levels were
essential to free education systems from corruption, they said, as well
as greater accountability and ownership of the management process.
The report also recommended improving the management, accounting,
monitoring and audit skills of administrative staff and other
stakeholders, such as parent-teacher associations and unions. Better
access to information would also help build participation and help
people detect fraud.
Simple measures such as these have all but stamped out corrupt practices
in some countries, Unesco found.
In the early 1990s in Uganda, for example, only 13% of the annual amount
granted to schools per student actually got to schools.
A national campaign to inform local communities about where the funds
were going led to a complete reversal of the situation. As a result,
some 85% of allocated funds reached their rightful destination.
Koīchiro Matsuura, director general of Unesco, said the study was a call
to action.
"Such widespread corruption not only costs societies billions of
dollars, it also seriously undermines the vital effort to provide
education for all.
"It prevents poorer parents from sending their children to school, robs
schools and pupils of equipment, lowers teaching standards and thus
education standards generally, and compromises the future of our youth.
We cannot let it go unchecked."