HOW CAN ICT TOOLS BE USED TO COMBAT CRIME

AND CORRUPTION IN EDUCATION SECTOR

(PRIMARY SCHOOL)

BY: VASCO BANDA

ID NO. DG 20181361

A research proposal submitted to Eden University, School of Education, Humanities and

Social Sciences in partial fulfillment of the requirement for the award of a (four years, full
time) degree in Secondary Teaching (ICT and Entrepreneurship)

EDEN UNIVERSITY

©2023
 EDEN UNIVERSITY

RESEARCH PROPOSAL TOPIC SUBMISSION FORM

SURNAME BANDA
OTHER NAMES VASCO
ID NUMBER DG 20181361
PROGRAM DEGREE (Secondary Teaching; ICT and Entrepreneurship)
PHONE NUMBER 0974659103
EMAIL Vascobanda086@gmail.com

PROPOSED PROJECT TITLE:

HOW CAN ICT TOOLS BE USED TO COMBAT CRIME AND CORRUPTION IN EDUCATION SECTOR
(PRIMARY SCHOOLS)

GENERAL SUBJECT AREA:

USE OF ICT TOOLS TO COMBAT CRIME AND CORRUPTION

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

1. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY…………………………………………………………….

1.1. INTRODUCTION………………………………………………………………………..

1.2. BACKGROUND…………………………………………………………………………..

1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM ………………………………………………..

1.4. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES ……………………………………………………………

1.4.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVES ……………………………………………………

1.4.2. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES …………………………………………………….

1.5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS ……………………………………………………………..

1.5.1. GENERAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS …………………………………...

1.5.2. SPECIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS …………………………………….

1.6. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY ……………………………………………………………

CHAPTER TWO

2. LITERATURE REVIEW ……………………………………………………………………………...

CHAPTER THREE

3. METHODOLOGY …………………………………………………………………...............................

CHAPTER FOUR

4. HYPOTHESIS ………………………………………………………………………………………….

CHAPTER FIVE

5. ASSUMPTIONS ……………………………………………………………………………………….

6. DEFINITION OF TERMS …………………………………………………………………………..

7. REFERENCES ………………………………………………………………………………………….

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 CHAPTER ONE

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

1.1. INTRODUCTION

Information Communications Technology (ICT) has gained popularity in the last decade,
with many education boards resorting to it to modernize school policies, increase efficiency
and improve the delivery of education. As an additional benefit, ICTs tools are also
expected to reduce crime and corruption in schools by promoting transparency, opening
education data to public scrutiny and by automating educational processes, restricting
discretion of officials and offering student’s interaction with educational leaders. Despite
these high expectations and massive investments by government, well-wishers (Donors)
and private individuals, evidence of impact is mixed and limited and there is a high rate of
failure in combating crime and corruption using ICT, due to contextual factors as well as
the type of the ICT interventions.

1.2. BACKGROUND

Education is a process of acquiring knowledge as a basic human right that provides

numerous opportunities for individuals and pushes them away from poverty. In long run,
society as well benefits from education because of the role the knowledge and the skills
gained through it have in development of the human capital and through it to welfare of all
the people and the state where they live.

Education is a very important factor in the development of newly established countries and
their economies. The development and growth of the economies are closely related and
primarily driven by new ideas and innovations. Individuals can personally benefit directly
from increasing their levels of education.

The emergence of the phenomenon of crime and corruption in the education system leads
to devastation of wellbeing of people and states. Because this destructive phenomenon
many international organizations and governments are developing policies and
mechanisms against crimes and corruption in the education sector. Therefore, the
possession of accurate and adequate information is essential for designing and developing
proper policies and projects to combat this very destructive phenomenon.

Similar efforts to fight crime and corruption in schools (primary schools) are being done in
Zambia. Zambia is a developing country where the perception of the past of her journey to
citizenship is very delicate.

Now, the state regulation of Zambia is a democratic. The Government of Zambia with other
bodies during this period of existence have developed many laws that are in conformity

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with different standards, but their implementation in practice is far from acceptable
standards and crimes and corruption are a daily challenge of the Zambian society.

In 2023, Zambia announced the national budget and allocated a certain fee towards the
Ministry of Education. It is paradoxical, even though the allocated budget fund for the
education sector is not that high (not as high as in other countries), it still makes an
attracting atmosphere for people to steal and corrupt, because crime and corruption is not
always money related.

In the last decades, the use of information and communications technology have shown
their importance and usefulness in public support, better service to students and higher
efficiency in performing tasks. Therefore, recently there has been a growing interest in
involving information and communication technology (ICT) in education.

For many years now, ICTs has been used for improvement of the learning process and to
facilitate education, as well as for a myriad of other purposes. In addition, recent studies
have shown that ICT can play an important role in combating crimes and in anti-corruption
efforts by increasing transparency, accountability, monitoring, decentralization for data
collection and analysis, etc. The best evidence for this is the fact that monopoly and
discretion are the facilitators of crime and corruption, while accountability and anti-
corruption environment make it more difficult. In this context, ICT can play a positive role
regarding these factors.

Because it is a relatively new practice, there are no reliable standards for implementation
of ICT against crime and corruption in schools. Also, it is obvious that successful policy
formulation concerning ICT requires involvement of many different groups of stakeholders,
some of them maybe from the outside of the education system. Furthermore, rapid
technology evolution and introduction of new products in the global market are going with
a much faster pace than most educational systems can catch up. And the issue of timing is
very important one for educators and policymakers in order to reach long term educational
goals.

It is important to mention, that despite all the help that people can get from ICTS towards
combating crime and corruption in primary schools, their use can bring concern regarding:
access, finance, equity and marginalization of specific individuals or groups, and scaling-up
practices.

For this report, a broad range of literature has been reviewed, which include: legal
documents released by government and Ministry of Education, newspapers, magazines and
other mass media (websites). All these sources were consulted because through them it has
been possible to find a large number of data related to crime and corruption in primary
schools.

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 1.3. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

This reports area of research is “how can ICT tools be used to combat crime and corruption
in schools (primary schools)”, which is a multidisciplinary field that involves information
and communications technologies for development and prosperity of developing countries
or countries in transition.

According to the Anti-Corruption Commission, reports that reflect the level of corruption in
Zambia’s education sector are very disturbing. This fact pushed the interest in doing the
research on how ICT can be used to combat corruption in primary schools (both
government schools and private schools). This realized, of course, based prior good
practices and methods that other countries have implemented. But, before the methods for
fighting crime and corruption in schools through ICT were presented, identifications of the
crimes and corrupt practices in primary schools have been done.

1.4. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

The research objectives are in associative form:

 Identify acts of crimes and corruption is carried out in primary schools in Zambia?

 Describe how can ICTs be used to prevent and mitigate crime and corruption in
primary schools?

1.4.1. GENERAL OBJECTIVES

The goal of this report is to explore crimes and corruption in primary schools in Zambia
and the power of ICT to combat this malicious phenomenon.

The objectives are:

 The identification of crime and corrupt practices.

 The depiction of possible counter-responses through the use of ICT.

1.4.2. SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES

 Explain how ICT can be used to combat crime and corruption in education sector.

1.5. RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The research questions are in associative form:

 What acts of crimes and corruption are carried out in primary schools in Zambia?

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  How can ICTs be used to prevent and mitigate crime and corruption in primary
schools?

1.5.1. GENERAL RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 Identify crime and corrupt practices.

 Depict the possible counter-responses through the use of ICT.

1.5.2 SPECIFIC RESEARCH QUESTIONS

 How ICT can be used to combat crime and corruption in education sector.

Steps that lead toward the objectives include:

 Compilation of questionnaire questions, which are necessary to extract information

from the participants.

 Contacting educational institutions, to get the approval survey conduction.

 Interviews and distribution of questionnaires for data acquisition.

 Collection of results for further analysis.

 Analysis of results to get conclusions.

While doing case studies on crime and corruption in primary schools and by providing
ways to combat this malicious phenomenon through the use of ICT, this report can be a
valuable tool for anti-corruption processes.

1.6. PURPOSE OF THE STUDY

This study has been undertaken in order to find means by which ICT tools can combat
corruption and crime in education sector. It will highlight the meaning of corruption and
crime and also state types of crimes and corruption associated with the education sector.

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 CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW

From an individual and society perspective, education has many functions; some of them
are listed below.

 It produces knowledge.

 It prepares people for life, and better integration in society.

 It gives individuals all-round development (mental and physical).

 It supplies individuals with proper occupational knowledge

 It helps in preservation and transmission of culture etc.

In general, the main goal of education is the transmission of earlier cultural, scientific and
civilized experiences of humanity to younger generations. During the development of
society, education was done in different ways, not only within the classroom. A person
during his mental development gets educated outside the classroom through the
experiences of life. All these forms of education are important in order for people to gain
different skills to learn, operate and work through their life.

Definition of crime

The Oxford English Dictionary defines crime simply as an action or omission which
constitutes an offence and is punishable by law. According to Criminologists, a crime is a
deliberate act that causes physical or psychological harm, damage to or loss of property,
and is against the law.

Factors of crime

Crime is built on the following factors or elements:

 Criminal act

 Criminal intent

 Concurrence

 Causation

 Harm and attendant circumstances.

Note: only crimes that specify a bad result have the elements of causation and harm.

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Forms of crime

The following are forms of crimes:

 Drug abuse and Trafficking: this involves the illegal possession of drugs,
distribution, and sale of drugs.

 Assault: this is a violent crime that involves intentional or reckless bodily harm to
another person.

 Burglary: this involves unauthorized entry into a building or dwelling with the
intent to commit a theft or other crime.

 Theft: the unlawful taking of property or money that belongs to another person
without their consent.

 Vandalism: this involves the intentional damage or destruction of property

belonging to another person.

 Sexual assault: this is a violent crime that involves non-consensual sexual contact.

 Cybercrime: involves the use of technology to commit crimes such as hacking,

identity theft, cyber bullying etc.

Other forms of crime may include: fraud, robbery, embezzlement, domestic violence,
stalking, kidnapping, homicide, arson, human trafficking, trespassing, disorderly conduct,
white-collar crimes etc.

Definition of corruption

Corruption is present in all countries of the world, but its magnitude varies from country to
country. The word corruption can interpreted in terms of language, in the legal and other
aspects. Corruption in the simplest understanding is the misuse of public authority for
personal gain. In terms of language the word corruption comes Latin word ‘Corruptus’
which means abuse or destroy.

The council of Europe Civil Law Convention on Corruption (Strasbourg, 4 November 1999)
was the first attempt to define corruption at an international level. This convention
contains several definitions which can serve for the formulation of national laws. One of
those definitions of corruption is:

‘Requesting, offering, giving or accepting, directly or indirectly, a bribe or any other undue
advantage or prospect thereof, which distorts the proper performance of any duty or behavior
required of the recipient of the bribe, the undue advantage or the prospect thereof.’

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But usually corruption is defined on a broader form, similar to:

‘The abuse of authority for material gain’

On the other hand, Heyneman’s definition for corruption in education is similar to that of
corruption in general:

‘The abuse of authority for personal as well as material gain’

This is because education can bring more than material benefits; for example, status and
higher position, which therefore offers opportunities for greater influence on other people.
In other aspects corruption can be considered as an ethical and cultural problem. It can
appear in many forms and it is multicultural. This phenomenon, from the ethical point of
view, in many different societies is regarded as something forbidden and harmful, both for
individual and for the society.

Types and forms of corruption

Since corruption has no universally accepted definition, it also does not have universal
typology. Researchers have developed many corruption typologies, while taking into
consideration different classifications. The following are some typologies:

 Bribery: this is most common form of corruption. Bribery is defined as the offering,
promising or giving of something in order to influence a public official in the
execution of official duties.

 Favoritism and Nepotism: favoritism the progress of individuals or officials, through

the use of personal ties, despite the knowledge, ability, and limited merit. Nepotism
is favoritism to relatives and friends regardless of their merits.

 Embezzlement: in the case of embezzlement, by using official authority, individuals

adopt something of material value which was entrusted and assigned to them.

 Conflicts of interests: in essence conflicts interest presents a potential risk to public

officials to misuse their authority for their personal benefit.

Possible causes of corruption

Causes of corruption differ from country to country and depend on national history,
traditions, political developments and institutional policies. the following are some of the
causes:

 Inadequate salaries.

 Shortage of funds for schools.

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  Lack of infrastructure.

 Lack of transparent regulation and criteria.

 Inadequate organizational structures.

 Lack of community involvement.

Cost and consequences of crime and corruption in schools

Crime and corruption increases the wealth of the minority in the society’s expense as a
whole, while leaving the poorest to bear the hardest consequences. However, some
economists say that this is not always the case. They argue that sometimes crime and
corruption increases the economy and efficiency by reducing the bureaucracy and speeding
the implementation of administrative practices.

Crime and corruption are present in schools. It is a phenomenon which is often

characterized with efficiency of schools and blocking public and private investment. The
damage of crime and corruption does not always relate to material damage, it also
undermines the public trust.

Zambia’s institutional framework against crime and corruption

Although Zambia has a sufficient institutional structure, those institutions still prove
unable to do their job in the best way possible. There are many disagreements on the issue
whether Zambia has good legislation to fight crime and corruption, or not. Various non-
governmental organizations and civil society make accusations that Zambia’s anti-crime
and anti-corruption legal frame work has many deficiencies, while government authorities
claim that shortcomings are in its implementation.

Of course, the educational sector is not the only one where crime and corruption is present.
A number attempts have been made to explicate crime and corruption globally and
sectorally. However, it seems that not a proper attention was given to combating crime and
corruption in schools, despite many grounds that education can offer:

 Social and economic development,

 Stability and equality,

 Increase of public awareness,

 Governmental procurement activities etc.

Over last decade the responsible institutions of Zambia have drawn many frameworks and
strategies to improve the situation in education system. Many schools have been

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established. But with all efforts and achievements in educational reform, curriculum
improvement and development of new textbooks, there are still many challenges to reckon
with.

The Education Strategic Plan was developed as a solution to lifelong learning and inclusion
in education and is based on the model of learning that addresses all students, offering
opportunities-equal and quality education. The Zambian education is functioning based
educating our future document adopted some years back (and was reviewed).

ICTs against crime and corruption in schools

Many government schools and private schools implemented ICT projects to combat crime
and corruption activities in Zambia. Zambia has developed many education projects
(EMIS). System assessment and School Based Assessments (SBA) is one of the programs
helping Zambia to systematically keep evidence and examine the strength and performance
of the education system. Many other similar programs were developed and implemented.
However, very little knowledge was gained about the best practices in using ICT to fight
corruption in the educational system.

ICT is used as an anti-crime as well as an anti-corruption tool because it helps people to be

heard and facilitates access relevant information. Two major factors enabling crime and
corruption in education are the lack of transparency and accountability. For this reason, the
government and civil societies have tried to find ways and tools to reduce the lack of these
two factors. They have found ICT as a tool to ensure transparency and accountability.

As in every sphere where crime and corruption are practiced, also in schools ICT can be
used to combat this phenomenon. The following is a table of ICT based actions, and tools to
combat crime and corruption general:

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Summary of ICT based actions to combat crime and corruption

Action type Logic to achieve benefits Main target ICT used

Automation Remove human agents and hence Petty bribery in Any system
crime and corruption everyday
opportunities from operations operations
Transparency Remove opportunity for Mobilize the Websites where
discretion public, inform information is
users published. Manual
or automatic input
Detection in Both details and aggregates from Petty bribery as Log analysis tools,
operation operations can be monitored to well as large scale standard as well
detect anomalies and unexpected operations as specifically
performance targeted ones.
Control functions
in e.g.
procurement
systems.
Preventive Online social networks and Large scale Social networks
detection individuals can be monitored to corruption, e.g. in analysis and social
detect preparations for crime and procurement or media analysis
corrupt action international tools
trade
Awareness If the public is aware of Petty bribery Any technology,
raising government rules and procedures but websites are
they are better able to resist most common
arbitrary treatment
Reporting Mobilizing users/schools to Petty bribery. Websites, social
report cases will make it easier to Large scale media networks,
take corrective action towards operations online
individuals and to reorganize newspapers,
systems to avoid loopholes mobile phones,
SMS for input
Deterrence Publishing information about Petty bribery Websites, social
reported crimes and corruption media networks
as well as indicators (such as
imbalance between income and
property) will deter civil servants
from engaging in crimes and
corruption
Promoting Engaging the public by means of Public attitude Social media
ethical pursuing discussions in various change forums
attitudes online forums

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All these actions that are listed above can be applied in schools in particular. ICT offers
three great opportunities, which include; automation, reporting and monitoring.
Automation eliminates the possession of monopoly, reporting eliminates discretion, and
monitoring provides opportunities in self-contain subsets of services and other uses such
as: surveillance, awareness raising, intimidation etc. As in any other inventions, they have
flaws, but, the benefits are considered to be much higher than the negative aspects.

A concrete typical example of the use of ICT against crime and corruption is a Web. Web
tools can be used to combat crime and corruption by promoting transparency, public
interest disclosure (whistleblowing) and global awareness. This can be achieved through
social networking sites, user created Web sites, self-publishing platforms and other
features offered by Web.

Anti-crime and anti-corruption initiatives that use websites to record, report, and publicize
crimes and corruptive practices in schools, have been raised all around the country. They
are aiming at: perception and monitoring crime and corruption, raising awareness about
crime and corruption, promotion of transparency and accountability etc. Websites are
useful for achievement of accountability, transparency and social mobilization through
transmission or publication of: student’s exam results, procurement data, financial
transactions, budget tracking information, awareness raising campaigns etc. In the other
hand, websites and social networks can be used for whistleblowing and reporting crimes
and corruption.

Besides web technology, another very handy technology can be used to combat crime and
corruption in schools. Mobile phones can be very effective tools against crime and
corruption, they can serve well in detection and reporting of crimes and corrupt practices
because of their:

 Accessibility – mobile phone usage in Zambia is 80%

 Adoptability – invention of new functions makes mobile phones adaptable to the

people’s needs and services.

 Outreach – penetration of mobile telephones in Zambia is 90%

 Affordability – high percentage of use of mobile phones in Zambia is an indicator of

their relatively low prices.

 Interaction – mobile phones offer real-time interactions which are necessary for
immediate feedbacks.

 Efficiency – mobile phone advantages are obvious due to its instant communication,
affordability, coverage etc.

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  Potential for social mobilization – mobile phones facilitate message transmission to
individuals with the same concerns, thus facilitating the mobilization.

Cameras can also be used for detection and prevention of crime and corruptive practices in
schools. With cameras, teachers, school attendance, or exams can be monitored; they can
also serve in detection and identification of sexual misconducts in education facilities.

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 CHAPTER THREE

METHODOLOGY

In this report, surveys and case studies were used as research strategies to understand and
gather facts about crime and corruptive practices from personal experiences of individuals.
The research design in this report uses qualitative approach, which from objectives point of
view produces descriptive knowledge. Descriptive research design, is usually used when
the researcher wants to know what is going on, and then generates hypothesis or suggests
associations; in this case, the interest has been on how crime and corruptive practices
occurred and how ICT can be used to prevent and mitigate crime and corruption in primary
schools. The flow of this work has gone according to the following:

Theory Literature review

Document Points of interest Surveys and

studies interviews

Results Results

Data analysis
and discussion

The research considers:

1. Objectives of the research study:

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 a) Identification of crime and corrupt practices in primary schools and

b) depiction of possible counter-responses through the use of ICT

2. Methods of data collection: since, surveys, case studies and interviews are all a part
of descriptive research, the following methods were used in order to gather as much
data:

a) Face to face individuals interviews

b) Questionnaires

c) Document studies

d) Group discussions

3. Source of information:

a) Members of the education system (teachers, pupils, education boards etc.).

b) Internet

c) Books

4. Tools for data collection

a) Questionnaires and mobile phones (for audio recordings)

5. Data Analysis:

a) Coding and classifying the identified crimes and corrupt practices.

b) Results are explained using graphs.

Other things that characterize this work are:

 It has no dependent or independent variables, because there was no attempt to

establish causality.

 It was composed only by one researcher, and that researcher is the author of thesis.

 Its basic structure design based on different formats.

 References follow different referencing style.

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Questionnaire design

Open-ended questions were used for interviewing interviewees prevailed over closed-
ended questions. The design of the questionnaire was based on regency, education and job
category.

Procedure

The delivery method used to question students, teachers and other school official’s that
was survey participants or interviewed, was done through web-based and paper based
questionnaire, and face-to-face meetings, respectively. The link of the questionnaire was
sent to the students through emails obtained from school administrations. Previously,
permission for emails and for questionnaire distribution was gained from the head
teachers of the relevant schools. Whenever possible, the questionnaires were distributed to
students in classrooms to encourage survey returns. Face-to-face interviews have been
recorded via telephone, and then transcribed. These transcriptions were sent to the
corresponding interviewees to check if their words were understood and transcribed
correctly.

Ethical considerations

The goal throughout this work was that society benefit from this work, and endeavors were
that this study to be carried out while respecting gender differences, racial, ethnic,
religions, cultural and differences of any other social groups. Ethical approvals were
therefore sought from the schools. Once the ethical permission was granted, the surveys
were conducted. This work involved human participants, thus the following ethical
principles have been considered; right to self-determination, right to confidentiality,
anonymity and the right to privacy.

Results

The results below, derived from conducting a survey, interviews and by collecting other
relevant information from governmental and private schools. Firstly, the data from the
conducted survey were presented and analyzed, and then data obtained from the
interviews, lastly the secondary data gathered from different websites. The focus groups
were pupils, teachers and other administrative personnel from different schools in Zambia.

Primary data

From the total number of the 383 questionnaires, 227 (59.27) were considered invalid due
to many unanswered questions.

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The gender of respondents from valid questionnaires is 70 (44.87%) males and 86
(55.13%) females.

The average of all the participants was 35 years of age.

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The number and percentage of participants involved in the study, and their schools.

No. School Participants involved Percentage (%)

1 Metropolitan school of Lusaka 96 62.34
2 Iqra primary school 16 10.39
3 Lotus primary 9 5.8
4 Herman Gmeiner primary 7 4.55
5 John laing primary 7 4.55
6 North park school 4 2.60
7 Chazanga combined 3 1.95
8 Chibolya primary 2 1.30
9 Kanyama primary 2 1.30
10 Progressive school 1 0.65
11 Corner star private school 1 0.65
12 David Livingstone school 1 0.65
13 Thorn park school 1 0.65
14 Chaisa primary 1 0.65
15 Emmasdale combined 1 0.65
16 Licef school 1 0.65
TOTAL 154 100

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In this study 126 (80.77%) participants were from public institutions, while 30 (19.23%)
were from private institutions.

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Crime and corrupt practices with the area of occurrence.

Area Crime and corrupt practices

Teacher performance  Teachers working in primary schools without having the
and behavior opportunity to perform their tasks properly. Should be
(professional mentioned that these teachers hold several classes at once.
misconduct)  Favoring students whose parents or relatives have
authoritative power or work on key points in schools.
 Disregards of working hours.
 Poor teacher-student relations.
Examinations and  Female students get higher grades and pass exams easier
certificate access to than male students due to gender.
schools  Some students do not enjoy the respect of the academic staff
because of their appearance or for other reasons.
 Scoring is not always based on student ability.
 Lack of transparency during assessments.
 You can get certificates by paying.
 In order for students to achieve success in exams, teachers
allow students to cheat during exams.
Teacher appointment,  Employment of academic staff based on political relations
management (transfer, and party affiliation.
promotion), payment  The presence of nepotism.
and training.
Finance  Misuse of finances meant for developing schools.

The following are the proposed changes made participants:

 Quality of education

 Teacher-student relations

 Transparency

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  Accountability

Besides the above mentioned changes, the participants also proposed:

 The enrichment of educational facilities with technology.

 The enrichment of primary schools with libraries (manual and electronic).

 Changes in evaluation and assessments methods.

The results acquired, exposed the following:

 Greed for material benefit or rise in authority.

 Religion is not applicable.

 Casual exploitation.

 Inadequate salaries and economic crisis.

 Lack of moral values.

 Bad economic conditions.

 Unprofessional behavior of academic staff.

 The possibility to control the mass.

 Lack of law enforcement.

 Non-reporting of crime and corruption incidents.

 The desire to be authoritative.

 Lack of controls.

Finally, representatives recommended the following mechanisms to fight crime and

corrupt practices in primary schools.

 Surveillance cameras.

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  Cell phone jamming devices.

 Background verification check on all academic personnel.

 Online reporting and publications.

 Mechanisms for anonymity during the denunciation of cases

 Electronic exam services

 Establishing mechanisms to raise awareness of students.

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 CHAPTER FOUR

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

Is technology a strong catalyst for combatting crime and corruption or does it serves only
as an additional resource for improvement? With the growing interest of technology, it was
seen as a strong catalyst for efforts to combat crime and corruption in schools. To
summarize the role of technology in combating crime and corruption, it’s difficult to
separate technology and the whole crime and corruption cases.

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 CHAPTER FIVE

ASSUMPTIONS

Zambian schools have made headlines condemning crime and corruption, but little
progress is being perceived by citizens. For this reason, this study attempted to answer two
questions, through which a difference could have been made:

 What acts of crime and corruption are carried out within the primary schools in
Zambia?

 How can ICT tools be used to combat crime and corruption in schools (primary
schools)?

In this, a survey was conducted through a questionnaire with twenty one questions and it
was sent to different schools, where 383 respondents participated.

Regarding satisfaction with primary education in Zambia, negative responses have

dominated. However, it is very interesting the large number of participants who answered:
neutral and satisfied. Regarding positive answers in their view, those pupils who have a
passion for learning can succeed, because teachers are dedicated and well trained. Also,
they have mentioned the changes made in accordance with European standards and the
decline of nepotism.

When asked what they would change in schools, participants mostly responded they would
like to increase the quality of education, transparency, then accountability, and finally,
improvement of teacher-pupil relationships. Participants have proposed enrichment of
schools with technology and libraries (manual and electronic) as means to improve the
existing quality in education. And truly, these two proposals are of great value in education,
because they facilitate research and dissemination knowledge. The third proposal was to
change the evaluation and assessments methods.

Results from interviews show that in general it is more likely to find crime and corruption
in public procurement, and particularly in form of nepotism and small payments in

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education. Therefore, transparency of publishing personal data through ICT must be
required, for employees of educational institutions.

During results analysis, many times camera were selected as ICT to fight crime and
corruption in schools, but before the implementation of these technologies, ethical issues
should also be considered.

Conclusions

Education is a fundamental human right and an effective way to reduce poverty. This right
fundamental in Zambia is being threatened lot by crime and corruption. Based on various
researches and reports, it can be concluded that this phenomenon in Zambian schools can
be fought and reduced through the use of ICT tools. Therefore, the aim of this study was to
identify crime and corrupt practices in the system of primary schools and depiction of ICT
tools to combat them. This study indicated different forms of crimes and corruption that
characterize the primary schools. These types of crimes and corruption occur in:
examinations, access to free education, allocation of specific allowances, teacher behavior,
teacher appointments and management, tenders, and finance. The study also highlighted
the types of ICT tools for combating crime and corrupt practices, they include: automated
testing machines, log analysis tools, web sites, social media networks, online newspapers,
mobile phones, cameras, procurement software systems, ID cards, cell phone/Wi-
Fi/Bluetooth signal jammers or detectors, signal detection devices, GPS systems, access
control systems and other automated control functions and mechanisms.

As conclusion we can say that the Zambian government should use ICT in its efforts against
crime and corruption. Because the results show that this destructive phenomenon can be
reduced significantly if used. ICT is only a part of an anti-crime and anti-corruption whole,
which can provide an irreplaceable contribution to fight crime and corruption.

Recommendations (Suggestions)

This research describes characteristics of existing crime and corruption phenomena in

education system, together with ICT tools that could be used against it, and serves as basis
for other types of research. There are different ICT platforms and systems that can be used

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to fight corruption. In order for them to be implemented in any institution, first, they
should be selected, compared, and analyzed. So, there is plenty of space for research in this
direction. Another suggestion for future research is legislative feasibility (i.e. surveillance
camera legislative issues) and economic implications for using ICT to fight crime and
corruption in primary schools.

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 DEFINITION OF TERMS

 Information Communications Technology (ICT) is defined as a diverse set of

technological tools and resources used to transmit, store, create, share or exchange
information.

 Crime is an action or omission which constitutes an offence and is punished by law.

 Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense which is undertaken by a

person or an organization which is entrusted in a position of authority, in order to
acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one’s personal gain.

 School is defined as an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces

and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of
teachers.

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