A teacher from the province of Salerno has been ordered by the Court of Auditors to compensate the Ministry of Education after using qualifications found not to be authentic to enter school rankings and a competitive recruitment procedure.
According to Il Mattino, judgment No. 194/2026 concerned a preparatory-grade certificate and a special-needs teaching specialization that the teacher used to access ranking lists and take part in the 2018 special competition.
The accounting prosecution linked the alleged financial damage to salaries paid between 2016 and 2025 and quantified it at 150,000 euros. The judges upheld the compensation claim in favor of the Ministry but reduced the amount by 50%, taking into account the teaching work actually performed and the benefit received by the administration.
The case forms part of a wider review in the Salerno area. Fifty-nine teaching positions are under examination over support-teaching specializations declared as obtained between 1996 and 1998. That review does not by itself establish wrongdoing: the validity of each qualification must be assessed individually.
Il Mattino also reports that the Ministry has already withdrawn state-recognized status from six private schools in the Salerno area, mainly between Nocera and Pagani, for failure to meet regulatory requirements.
The investigation originated with the public prosecutor's office in Vallo della Lucania and concerns alleged qualifications, examination records and credentials that may not correspond to courses actually completed.
