DUSHANBE, December 10, 2011, Asia-Plus — On Friday December 9, UNDP Country Office in Tajikistan in cooperation with the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption and the Ministry of Education organized a conference, entitled “Integrity in Education Sector.”
Corruption in secondary education sector is a key obstacle to sustainable development and has to be prevented at all levels of the society and the state institutions.
Representatives from international agencies, central and regional education departments of Tajikistan, Agency on State Finance Control and Fighting against Corruption, ministries, as well as representatives of local and private mass media participated in the conference, which was part of the global events taking place worldwide celebrating International Anti-Corruption Day.
An important goal of the conference was in raising the awareness of the participants on the dangers associated to corruption in the Education sector, strengthening cooperation among civil society organizations (CSOs), the Ministry of Education, secondary schools and the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption in the field of prevention of the corruption risks in secondary education.
In the course of the conference, both the national and international experience and best practices in conducting risk assessments and awareness raising campaigns in the education sector were explored.
Deputy Director of the Agency for State Financial Control and Combating Corruption, Millopar Bandishoyev, considers that corruption is one of the main obstacles on the way of development of society.
“It casts doubt on state social guarantees and reduces people’s trust in government and poses threat to a state,” said Bandishoyev. “Not only public institutions must combat corruption, each member of society must also participate in the fight against this evil.”
Ms. Zahira Virani, Acting Country Director, UNDP Tajikistan, says corruption in the high echelons of authority and power may lead to social shocks similar to those that took place in the Arab world.
As far as the corruption in the education sector is concerned, Ms. Virani noted that “the fact that it is possible to buy school leaving certificates and university diplomas today will negatively impact development of society tomorrow.” “As a result of corruption, society becomes illiterate and uneducated,” she said.
Deputy Minister of Education, Fathiddin Ismonov admitted that there were dishonorable and corrupt persons in the education sector. “More than 200,000 people now work in the education sector and it is possible that there are dishonorable persons among them,” said he. “At the same time, there are many students who offer bribes themselves.” According to him, the Ministry of Education was one of the first in the country to develop a sectoral program to combat corruption.
Ashourali Mirzoyev, an official with the anticorruption agency, noted that the education sector remained one of the most corrupt spheres in the country in terms of the number of applications from citizens to the anticorruption agency and the number of registered corruption-related crimes.
Corruption is a key obstacle to good governance; it hinders development and economic growth, has disproportionate negative effects on the poor, the disadvantaged minorities and the women; undermining the democratic process and the effectiveness of the institutions. Particularly corruption in education has particularly detrimental effects on the future generations by entrenching a culture of corruption.
International Anti-Corruption Day has been observed annually, on December 9, since the passage of the United Nations Convention Against Corruption on October 31, 2003.
