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Tackling corruption in education is essential to reaching equitable and inclusive quality education for all. IIEP-UNESCO is unveiling a new version of ETICO, the online platform to support educational policy-makers and planners with identifying and overcoming corruption in the sector. The site features everything from guidelines, interactive tools, training materials, to a blog featuring the latest ideas from the global anti-corruption community.
Video: Corruption in education: what happens when the line is crossed?
Corruption in education can be found in all areas of educational planning and management – from school financing, teacher recruitment and promotions, pupils’ admissions, to the supply of learning materials and fake degrees. When corruption permeates education systems for personal gain, financial resources can be lost, as well as trust in the public sector. Whether it be ghost teachers or inflated prices for textbooks, corruption also creates low-learning environments where the most vulnerable students often suffer the most.
“Fighting corruption has to be seen as part of making progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. A sector free of corruption is imperative to ensuring that educational plans and policies are implemented and that they can contribute to equitable access to quality education and strong ethics.”
Muriel Poisson, IIEP expert on ethics and corruption in education
The new ETICO facilitates easier access to diagnostic tools, training materials, interactive maps, and strategies for policy-makers, planners, researchers, and concerned citizens to put corruption at the top of the agenda. It includes:
- More than 820 relevant references including publications, policies, and norms;
- Thematic pages on key issues such as open government, mapping risks, and more;
- A glossary with about 40 key definitions related to ethics and corruption;
- News and recaps of important events and webinars;
- A selection of more than 1,500 articles and media citations on corruption;
- A blog and news bulletin for the anti-corruption community;
As a knowledge-sharing platform, ETICO brings together the many research products IIEP and partners have produced on good governance models and how to build integrity and transparency in the sector. This includes a myriad of examples on how to design and implement open school data initiatives and how to go further by opening up government processes to public scrutiny. As such, ETICO users can become familiar with best practices from all over the world and gain a stronger understanding of the role of local structures and how to use information technology to encourage citizen engagement in decision-making processes that impact education.
Users can also explore interactive maps on the platform as well, including a statistical map that offers comparable data on corruption around the world and teacher codes of conduct that are currently in use in 76 countries.
Later in 2022, ETICO will feature guidelines for conducting integrity assessments, building in particular on recent exercises undertaken in Georgia and Guinea.
Looking forward
As 2030 rings closer, IIEP remains committed to supporting countries with improved governance and ethical frameworks for stronger service delivery free of corruption, as indicated in the seventh Value Stream of its new Medium-Term Strategy. Spanning training, technical cooperation, and research, IIEP will continue to offer an integrated package designed to support accountability, transparency and ethics in education, while exploring new related topics.
