Sealed campuses pose verification challenge

Degree of BISE computer section in-charge found fake

LAHORE:

As many as 100 of the 153 private universities and their campuses declared fake over the past years by the Higher Education Commission were in Punjab.

According to sources, a large number of universities and their campuses declared fake a long time ago do not have the record of students and degrees, while some fake campuses were sealed several years back and problems are reportedly being faced in the verification of their degrees.

Recently, the master’s degree of the computer section in-charge of the Board of Intermediate and Secondary Education (BISE) Lahore turned out to be fake.

The revelation came as the departmental promotion committee started scrutinising the credentials of Waqas Javed, in-charge of the computer section, to promote him to grade 18.

Provincial Minister for Higher Education Raja Yasir Humayun Sarfraz has directed the secretary concerned to hold an inquiry into the matter.

The board has also initiated a department inquiry under the Punjab Employees Efficiency, Discipline and Accountability (PEEDA) Act against the official.

The computer section of the BISE is responsible for important matters such as registration of students for matriculation and intermediate examinations, dealing with admission forms and roll number slips of candidates and compiling the results.

The decision to take action against Javed was taken after his Master in Information Technology degree, which he had earned from Al Khair University in 2000, was not verified and was declared bogus by the federal Higher Education Commission (HEC). The degree was sent to the HEC for verification.

The services of the official were regularised in grade 17 in 2018 and his promotion to the next grade was under consideration.

The departmental promotion committee, which is expected to hold a meeting in a few days, has been informed that the HEC has declared the degree as bogus.

After the minister for higher education directed the secretary to inquire into the matter, the board officials, on the directives of the ministry, have launched an inquiry into the case under the PEEDA Act.

According to sources, if the fake degree is proved, under the PEEDA Act the government employee involved in the case would not only be dismissed from service but the amount paid as monthly salary during the period of employment would also be recovered.

As many as 153 private universities and their campuses across the country have been declared fake by the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan. According to the list on the HEC website, 100 such campuses were in Punjab, 36 in Sindh, three in Azad Jammu and Kashmir, 12 in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and two in the federal capital.

The criteria for verifying the degrees have reportedly been developed but issues are faced in following them and a number of officials with degrees from such institutions are reportedly serving in government departments.

Commenting on the matter, Punjab Higher Education Commission Chairman Professor Fazal Ahmad Khalid said degrees issued by private institutions declared unauthorised by the federal HEC could not be verified in any case. However, the responsibility of taking any action against such institutions also rests with the federal organisation, he added. He said the instructions issued by the federal authorities were implemented at the provincial level.

 

 

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2020.