‘Start corruption fight in schools’

The Standard

By Caiphas Chimhete

6 October 2013

CORRUPTION involving teachers, school development associations (SDAs) and ministry officials has rocked the education sector, seriously compromising the quality of the country’s once revered education system.

A report, Framing Corruption in Education — Global Trends, released recently by Transparency International (TI) — says corruption in education was among the significant barriers to attaining Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and realising the universal right to education.

An investigation by The Standard last week established some teachers, headmasters and ministry officials were living large from proceeds of corruption, capitalising on weak, or absence of, monitoring mechanisms by the education ministry.

The most common forms of corruption rampant in Zimbabwe include demanding bribes to facilitate admission to schools or colleges as well as to obtain favourable grades.

The embezzlement of public funds intended for teaching, school materials and the diversion of resources for personal benefit is another form of the corruption.

Corruption is also rampant in procurement of furniture or in recruitment procedures as well as issuing of fake qualifications by some colleges resulting in unskilled teachers getting employed for a fee.

“When access to education or its quality suffers, the potential of individuals, communities and nations is squandered,” says the TI report. “Corruption in the education sector is a key reason why such waste occurs.”

The TI report noted that people paid bribes in the education sector in countries such as Ghana, Cameroon, Nigeria, Turkey, Kenya and Afghanistan among other countries.

However, observations by TI are not very different from the situation obtaining in the Zimbabwe. Investigations by The Standard also established that headmasters and SDA members were looting incentives meant for teachers.

At one school in Kuwadzana in Harare, the headmaster deducts or withholds money a teacher is supposed to get if he/she fails to come to work on time. The money that would have been deducted is unaccounted for as no one asks for fear of victimisation.

Some headmasters also inflate amounts they present to provincial education offices as incentives they give to teachers when in actual fact the teachers would be getting far less.

“They (headmasters) send figures that they are giving each teacher US$300 per month when he or she would be giving them US$200,” said one teacher with a Harare school. “The headmaster would then pocket the difference. It’s very common.”

One Ministry of Education official said the issue of extra lessons had also bred corruption as teachers no longer teach during normal working hours.

“They now concentrate on pupils who paid for extra lessons where they get additional money,” he said.

This has disadvantaged pupils from poor families as they cannot afford to pay additional money, thereby defeating the government’s policy of education for all.

“For example, our children were ordered to attend extra lessons during last holidays with each pupil paying US$15 and there are three classes of about 40 each,” said one disgruntled parent who stays in Kambuzuma.

“When the schools opened this term, each child required extra lessons for US$2 a week, which means they raked over US$3 000 in less than two months. The figure might seem small but remember these are poor people who are being robbed.”

The Progressive Teachers’ Union of Zimbabwe (PTUZ) confirmed there was rampant corruption in the education sector.

PTUZ national coordinator, Ladislous Zunde said it was difficult to weed out corruption in the sector because some teachers and headmasters were getting protection from Ministry of Education officials in return for kick-backs.

In the past, district and education officials would demand bribes of between US$300 and US$500 to facilitate transfers of teachers to better areas or to get a job, he said. The recruitment and deployment of teachers has since been put under the Civil Service Commission (CSC).

“It is now a known fact that some district and provincial education officials are protecting corrupt headmasters and SDAs that swindled schools for a fee,” said Zunde. “There are certain schools that have become cash cows for the officials. Despite there being evidence that money is being stolen investigations are done cosmetically so that no detail of fraud or chicanery is found.”

It also emerged that most headmasters and SDAs inflated amounts when buying school property and would get “kick-backs” from the suppliers.

In one incident, a headmaster at one school in in Harare bought a second-hand bus for about US$70 000 but independent investigations revealed that bus was valued at approximately US$45 000.

Three years ago, a headmistress with another Harare school claimed that she had spent US$19 000 to repair an old truck, an amount more than the value of the vehicle itself.

Auditors from the Ministry of Education found that the headmistress was stealing from the school and recommended her arrest “but up to now she is still there and getting protection from ministry officials,” said Zunde.

Former education minister, David Coltart also conceded there was corruption in the education sector.

Coltart said he received between 70 and 80 reports of corruption in schools last year. The country has about 109 000 teachers and 8 500 primary and secondary schools.

“I believe there are bad and good eggs in the sector but the vast majority are good eggs.”

Although, The Standard could not obtain the official number, several headmasters and teachers were arrested last year for misusing school funds and writing examinations for pupils and students.

A Bulawayo educationist, who requested anonymity, said as long as there were no regular audits and teachers were poorly paid, corruption in the education sector would remain a major problem.

“They need to be well paid,” he said. “What they are doing are survival tactics. How can a family of six survive on US$400?”

Education minister, Lazarus Dokora yesterday also expressed concern about cases of corruption in education, especially among SDAs.

Speaking at a gathering to mark the World Teachers’ Day, Dokora said school funds were not being handled properly.

“We are deeply concerned about rampant corruption within SDAs and as a ministry we want to reiterate that corruption will be stamped out,” he said. “As part of stern action against corruption, we are refocusing the way we do things so that there is accountability.”

He said suggestion boxes will soon be availed providing parents the opportunity to report “any corrupt incidences.”

TI says corruption undercuts the investment made by society in the education of its future citizens.

“The societal investment fails when some are allowed to succeed without merit, swelling the ranks of incompetent leaders and professionals, while others with intellectual capacity cannot realise their potential to learn not because they cannot master the curriculum but because they cannot obtain their fundamental rights or will not play by the corrupt rules.”