Selling Fake Degrees By Universities" A Sham

Its a big sham, not a shame. Nothing is more obnoxious than universities- the temple of higher learning- selling fake degrees. It speaks for the lowest level our education system has rotten down. And its not surprising when professional education is commercialized. After liberalization in early nineties, India fell in trap of commercializing education. So you have medical, engineering and and even business management shops selling admission for hefty amount. Schools and colleges admitting students only on huge donations and exorbitant fees and coaching industry flourishing into a huge money-minting industry. So there is no room for quality education. What is left in the age of commercialization, is just "money making the degree go".

I am not shocked over the unveiling of a massive fake degree scam involving the sale of five lakh degrees by two private universities in Himachal. Not right-thinking person could ever thought of allowing private sectors to run shops for higher running.in india inhabited by 60 percent of its population living as economical weaker. What is shocking is the callous and casual attitude of regulatory body- HP Private Educational Institutions Regulatory Commission. The University Grants Commission (UGC) had informed the state authorities in August 2019 to conduct a thorough inquiry into the allegations of sale of fake degrees by the APG University in Shimla and Manav Bharti University in Solan. No action was taken in the past six months. What for this body is?

The UGC has informed the state that “Manav Bharti University (MBU), Solan, sold more than four-five lakh degrees during the past seven years with the help of agents in Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi, West Bengal and South India. It neither informed the HP Private Universities Regulatory Authority, nor the body ever knew what was happening in this university.

Earlier in 2014, HP university was in news for fake degree scam. A student was issued a fake mark sheet of B.A. III tough he didn’t even appear in the exams. He passed with flying 70% marks. As he happened to be a son of a university official, he got a clerk lob in the university . That’s where it came to the notice of the authorities and on inquiry his detailed mark-sheet was found fake. The fake mark sheet scams surface from time to time. Headlines like "Fake mark sheet scandal unearthed in UP”, “Fake mark sheet scandal busted in Saurashtra University”, “Agra Police files chargesheet against Rajasthan MLA in fake mark sheet case”, “Fake mark sheet scandal unearthed in Vadodara” and “Fake degree, marksheet scam busted in Meerut” appear in media now and then. And there is no end to it.

The fake degree scandals are so rampant in the country that Panjab University, had to affix holograms on its official degrees to prevent duplication and forgery. Many universities have introduced the system. But scammers dodge the system and find ingenious ways.

What our nation needs is not commercialized education but an education system based on knowledge and system that could address overcrowding. Makes funding schools a top priority. Raise standards for teachers and place classroom-running and curriculum-building decisions in the hands of the community. And end to commercialization of Education. private sector running universities in India,

(Chander Sharma)