Millions of Afghanis have been collected by fictitious teachers on the rolls in Herat’s schools. Who is to blame? Killid investigates.
Abdul Razaq Ahmadi, acting head of the provincial education department, confirms there is widespread corruption.
Millions of Afghanis have been collected by fictitious teachers on the rolls in Herat’s schools. Who is to blame? Killid investigates.
Abdul Razaq Ahmadi, acting head of the provincial education department, confirms there is widespread corruption. There is strong evidence of money for education being siphoned off in all the province’s 15 districts. Preliminary investigation by a delegation of representatives from the Ministry of Education and governor’s office show 300 ghost teachers were registered in schools in the districts and provincial capital, Herat City. They collected more than 16.2 million Afghanis (235,500 USD) in the first nine months of the current financial year (from Mar 21 to Dec 21, 2015).
According to the education department, 60 percent of salaries paid to schoolteachers in the districts go to individuals masquerading as teachers. Ahmadi says there were 170 fictitious schoolteachers in Enjeel district. There were teachers in Guzara, Adresken and Obay districts who were being paid by the hour. Some 20 were employed full-time in Guzara but they have never taken classes, according to the acting head of the education department. “They were paid salaries,” he confirms.
The education department has appointed a commission to review the performance of all schoolteachers in Herat.
Deep roots
Commission member Mohammad Anwar Matin says preliminary scrutiny reveals corruption in the disbursement of salaries has deep roots. He says the commission has frozen some 30 million Afs (436,100 USD), which was allocated by the centre towards salaries of schoolteachers. Matin says the commission is still trying to verify the credentials of schoolteachers, a tough job since most of those with fake identities are very powerful with links to high-ranking government officials.
Matin would not be drawn into revealing information on the progress made by the commission, insisting instead that the full report would be available to the media on completion of the investigation.
Killid was given access to a document that shows the different ways in which money was embezzled from the education department in Shindand district. The document reveals that since the start of the educational year, neither the school inspectors have bothered to visit schools nor have schools maintained registers to show the attendance of teachers. In fact, district education department officials have connived to hide the reality in the 40 schools in Shindand, according to the document.
According to the official records, there are 1,132 teachers in the district; 951 are permanent teachers and the rest, 181, are merely names on paper. Interestingly, on the list are also individuals who live abroad. Some of the teachers in name only have powerful godfathers and personally mark their attendance only occasionally. On the rest of the days, someone else signs on their behalf, and no questions are asked. Take for example teachers in the school in Kalesk Sufla, Shindand district. Some of the so-called teachers have only studied up to grade 10 but they have forged documents to show they are high school graduates. Schoolteachers have to complete grade 12.
Zero accountability
Another section of the document reveals that money was withdrawn from education department of Herat under the head of remuneration – money for sport, petrol etc., – but the money was never given to the applicants. Remuneration dues for two months (Mar 21 to April 20, 2015) was withdrawn from the education department but was not paid.
None of the schools have received fuel money for years but there are receipts for the first three months of the current financial year to show the money was disbursed. Another part of document shows that most of the deals that were examined were under the previous leadership of the Herat education department.
Not just schoolteachers but students were also fictitiously entered on the rolls. These students did not attend a day’s school but successfully graduated.
Killid interviewed former officials of the Herat education department who were sacked by the Ashraf Ghani government. They deny any wrongdoing and say their files are being investigated by the justice and judicial officials. Basir Ahmad Arween Taheri, former head of the education department, says ghost teachers did not exist during his tenure. He claims he never heard any such complaints. How come district security and intelligence officials could not prevent the practice? He complains that his rivals had hatched a “conspiracy” against him.
Ahmadi, the acting director of education in Herat says the department has received more than a thousand complaints. Investigations are going on in 200 cases. The Attorney General’s (AG) Office says dossiers of seven staff in the education department have been handed over to them. Court proceedings have begun in four cases. There’s one case each against the former head of Herat education department, education head of Guzara district and a staff member in the department. The three are being probed by the AG’s Office.
Sayed Azim Kabirzai who heads the cultural committee in the Herat provincial council and is a member of the committee says the education head of Guzara is corrupt. He accuses him of extorting the salaries of teachers, and threatening to kill them with the help of armed opponents of the government if they dare to challenge him.
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