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90 Diagnosing Corruption in Ethiopia
Extortion of facilitation payments from teachers—risk: low. This form of
corruption relates to teachers being refused salary or other payments to
which they are entitled unless they first pay a kickback to an official.
In some countries, such a practice is commonly linked with initial
recruitment—with jobs or promotion offered on the basis that the
teacher involved will also make future kickbacks or contributions to a
specific individual or political party.
Survey responses did not indicate this to be a problem in relation to
salary payments—a finding consistent with a general distaste reported for
such overt forms of corruption commonly encountered in other countries.
Less conclusive was the situation in relation to the payment of per
diems, with 48 percent of school-level staff reporting that per diems are
not being paid according to regulations. This finding does not necessarily
lead to a conclusion that facilitation payments are being extorted, but it
does warrant further study as a possible form of corruption.
Bribery, extortion, favoritism, or nepotism in teacher recruitment—risk: high.
Survey responses suggest nepotism and favoritism in recruitment were
broad and frequent—namely that, in some woredas, the recruitment of
teachers (and other community-based workers) is based on political
affiliation, including paid-up membership of the Ethiopian People’s
Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF). This process is perceived to
start with the selection of candidates for technical training colleges
(TTCs). Although the findings of this study are triangulated by other
studies on accountability, it is difficult to judge the extent to which this
reported favoritism and capture in the recruitment of teachers is actually
occurring. Further, more specific, study would be required to determine
this. 13
This finding is related to a perceived lack of transparency in the
recruitment process. Out of 60 higher-education officials interviewed,
more than 20 percent considered this process to be nontransparent.
Nevertheless, only a small minority of respondents perceived a risk of
bribery in teacher recruitment. This is in marked contrast with experience
in some other countries in the region, where the payment of bribes
for teaching jobs is considered to be a normal part of recruitment patterns.
The context is unusual in Ethiopia, however, in that students do not
generally choose to become teachers but are centrally selected from a
pool of those who have failed to achieve high grades.
This system was set to change beginning in 2010, when those wishing
to become teachers were to be able to elect to undertake an additional