By Jean d’Amour Mugabo
Corruption remains a major obstacle to inclusive and equitable education across Africa, disproportionately affecting women, girls, learners with disabilities, and other marginalized groups, a new regional policy brief released on Tuesday said.
The brief, titled “Leaving No Learner Behind: Tackling Corruption and Discrimination in Education Across Africa,” draws on corruption risk assessments conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe under the Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa (ISDA) project.
It finds that corruption is most prevalent at key service delivery points where education officials interact directly with learners and families, including school admissions, grading, teacher recruitment, payroll management, and public procurement.
Practices such as bribery, sextortion, nepotistic recruitment, payroll fraud, and mismanagement of school resources continue to restrict access to education, weaken learning outcomes, and erode public trust in public education systems, the report said.
“Corruption in education is not a victimless administrative failure; it is a direct assault on human rights and social justice,” said Paul Banoba, Africa Regional Advisor at Transparency International. He said evidence from the five countries shows that gendered and discriminatory corruption remains deeply entrenched.
The report identifies sextortion as one of the most pervasive yet underreported forms of corruption in education. Female learners are often pressured to exchange sexual favors for grades, admissions, internships, or scholarships, but fear of retaliation, stigma, and weak reporting mechanisms limit disclosure.
Learners with disabilities and those from poor or rural households face additional barriers due to inaccessible infrastructure, informal fees, and favoritism in bursary allocation, it said.
Country-level findings show wide variations. In the DRC, more than 56% of respondents reported paying or witnessing bribes to secure school admission. Madagascar recorded exclusion of learners with disabilities linked to illicit fees, while Ghana continues to struggle with payroll fraud that diverts resources from underserved schools. In Rwanda, integrity risks were identified in exam grading, internships, and school feeding programmes, with female students particularly vulnerable to sextortion. Zimbabwe recorded some of the highest levels of education-related corruption, with 72% of respondents acknowledging bribery in admissions, alongside reports of sexual coercion.
Weak oversight and accountability mechanisms were identified as a key driver of persistent corruption. Community-based bodies such as parent-teacher associations and school boards often lack legal authority, resources, and protection against intimidation, limiting their effectiveness.
“Corruption thrives where oversight is weak and sanctions are inconsistently enforced,” said Albert Rwego Kavatiri, ISDA Project Regional Education Expert and Program Manager at Transparency International Rwanda.
The report calls for coordinated national and Pan-African action, including recognition of sextortion as a form of corruption, establishment of safe reporting mechanisms, transparent recruitment systems, digitized payroll management, and stronger procurement oversight.
The findings come against the backdrop of uneven performance in the 2024 Corruption Perceptions Index. Rwanda scored 57 out of 100 and ranked 43rd globally, placing it among the highest-ranked countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. Ghana scored 42 and ranked around 80th globally, while Madagascar scored 26. Zimbabwe and the DRC scored 21 and 20, respectively, placing them among the lowest-ranked countries worldwide.
The report said corruption in education exacerbates inequality, undermines social cohesion, and slows progress toward global development goals, calling for reforms to be treated as both a governance and human rights priority.
