CORRUPTION ASSESSMENT: MOZAMBIQUE - World Bank

• Because of a shortage of teachers throughout the country, schools are generallyorganized in 2 or 3 shifts. To encourage bribe-giving from parents, schooladministrators often assign girl students to the evening shift – generally viewed asunsafe – in anticipation of bribes of between 200,000 to 300,000 meticais perstudent ($8 to $12) to change shifts. A large amount of informal fees changehands during the registration period at the beginning of the school year.• A recent World Bank study on user fees indicates that citizens have a very unclearpicture as to why school fees are being levied on them, but they pay themnonetheless. In fact, the Ministry of Education has abolished all school fees, butmany fees are still collected from parents and students.• Girls are often pressured into sex with male teachers for grades. While the policyis to summarily dismiss teachers who are caught having sex with students,teachers are almost always transferred, rather than being fired. Some districtshave allegedly become major repositories for these pedophile teachers. This“sexual corruption,” of course, has long-term impacts on victims, including thepotential for exposure to HIV/AIDS or other diseases, trauma, social stigma, andlong-term psychological wounds. While the results for victims can be tragic, theyalso carry long-term social costs.Recommended reform optionsRecommended programs in the education sector to control corruption are presentedbelow. The Minister of Education has indicated a desire to deal with corruption problemsat all levels, so political will may exist, though it needs to be tested. Donors andimplementing partners working in the education field believe that there are significantopenings to accomplish reforms that will stem corrupt practices, based in large part onthe growing constituency for change emanating from the grassroots school councils thatexist at the village-level upwards.• Promote development of human resource management systems that include meritbasedhiring and promotion, and professional performance standards and reviews.• Development of professional management training to ensure that abuse of poweris detected and punished, and establishment of internal audit units to ensure thatprocurements are properly conducted and monitored.• Strengthen capacity of school councils to become watchdogs of schoolexpenditures. Promote establishment of school watchdogs at the provincial levelto oversee education policy decisions and procurement actions, and detect anddiscipline corrupt administrators and abusive teachers.• Public awareness and community organizing around the issue of sexual abuse ofstudents by teachers, with a focus on areas where offending teachers have beentransferred.FINAL REPORT 25