The conviction of a University lecturer at Mutara Polytechnic University for using forged academic transcripts to gain employment has shocked many, and calls for action to curb the vice are rising by the day.The Minister of Education, while meeting proprietors of private institutions of higher learning, also raised a concern in relation to examination malpractices. He noted that a number of university students hire people to write for them dissertations and in fact, jargon has been coined to refer to such practices, something that shows that such vices are risk becoming a common practice.The two, different yet related, cases not only indicate a moral decay, but also a failure that if not checked, will serve to erode the gains that have been achieved in the education sector, and consequently have a negative impact on the human resource capacity in the country.It is obvious that an academic with dubious qualifications, will produce graduates whose qualifications cannot be reconciled with the knowledge gained if any at all, during their studies.The public service commission took steps to verify the academic qualifications of all those who seek employment in the public sector.Public and private institutions have an obligation to verify the credentials of job seekers prior to hiring.Stakeholders in the education and other sectors ought to be on the alert and realise that the human resource gaps existent in some sectors, are opportunities for unscrupulous people, both local and foreign to exploit. It is important to be on the lookout for such.
