Nurses’ academic papers under probe

NYARUGENGE - THE Rwanda National Examination Council (RNEC) is investigating academic papers of all practicing nurses in a stepped-up campaign against forged papers, it has emerged. A highly placed source from the Ministry of Health told The Sunday Times on November 6th that a list containing the names and academic particulars of all nurses in the country had been sent to RNEC.“You know doctors and nurses handle life and therefore, they must be skilled and people of proven integrity,” said the source on phone, who spoke on condition of anonymity. The RNEC’s Executive Secretary, John Rutayisire confirmed the ongoing probe. He said the ministry had forwarded academic particulars of all nurses who were trained in Rwanda for verification.“Yes, the ministry sent us the list. There is no doubt that we have people who carry forged academic papers,” Rutayisire said in an interview with The Sunday Times at his office in Remera.The ministry wants to find out whether academic papers submitted by the nurses correspond with those kept by RNEC’s data bank.“It may take some time but I believe we shall achieve our goal,” Rutayisire said, stressing that the government is determined to get to the bottom of the matter.Our source told us the ministry had also instituted a professional nursing council, an organ charged with monitoring and ensuring that medical practitioners’ professional ethics are upheld.For a nurse to practice he/she has to be a full member of the professional nursing council. Before the council recruits a particular nurse, his or her papers have to go through RNEC for vetting.According to Rutayisire, RNEC will scrutinize all Advanced Level Certificates to ascertain whether those enrolled to universities or employed in the health sector are qualified.He explained that at some level, the vetting exercise will involve scrutinizing senior six answer sheets marked earlier to see if they correspond with candidates’ registration numbers.“It‘s a big task but we are determined to do it,” Rutayisire emphasized.Among other vetting criteria to be used includes identifying the correlation of exam registration numbers, plus names and photos of every candidate in RNEC’s examination databank.Employees found to have forged their paths to jobs or universities will have their degree certificates cancelled and later face prosecution.Regarding people who were trained outside the country and happen to carry forged papers, Rutayisire said cross-border mechanisms had been put in place.Investigations into the academic papers of nurses come months after police arrested a self-proclaimed National University of Rwanda (NUR) lecturer, Emmanuel Gakwaya, for allegedly using forged academic papers.Documents at CID headquarters indicated that Gakwaya got a Masters and a PhD on the same day and that the US University he claimed to have attended never existed.He was arrested with another ‘consultant’, Lambert Gatera, who had been hired as a financial consultant in the Ministry of Education.The National Council for Higher Education (NCHE), a government’s agency mandated to ensure quality and oversee the planning of all tertiary institutions in the country, has also directed that all universities forward academic papers of their lecturers for verification.Concerns of employees with fraudulent academic transcripts reportedly came to the limelight during the Fourth Government Retreat at Akagera Game Lodge early this year. Ends