First success in battle against fake degrees

Many “respected citizens” have begun renouncing the title ‘Dr’ from their names since His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa issued a directive to take strict action against those who obtained positions in the government sector after receiving fake degrees.

The directive has turned out to be a cause of big worry for these “respected citizens and officials” who were, hitherto, thriving on their fake degrees. The changes were first felt on social media, where many have started removing titles in order to avoid getting embroiled in controversies related to fake degrees. Tribune reported a few days ago that the Civil Service Bureau (CSB) has also initiated a drive to bring all those in the government service, who got fake and unaccredited degrees to justice. It is learnt that the CSB is contemplating strict action against those having fake degrees including dismissal from service. Meanwhile, sources say the Ministry of Education has also launched a parallel drive against its employees who are unqualified and obtained jobs using fake degrees.

However, social media is rife with advertisements of different courses and programmes offered by various universities located outside the country. And almost all of these degrees and certificates have no validity in the Kingdom. Speaking to Tribune, an academic, who doesn’t want to be identified, said, “There is no way to exercise control over the social media networks. But, of late, people in the Kingdom are becoming aware of fake degrees offered by many of these universities.” However, the academic said the responsibility of government bodies is not yet over when it comes to carrying out large-scale awareness programmes against these fake universities and degrees and certificates offered by them.

“These universities are capitalizing over the element of confusion that is prevailing in the Bahraini society with regard to higher education. One of the things offered by these fake universities to attract Bahraini students is cheap costs for certificates and degrees. “Any student can easily be lured away with their advertisements unless the government bodies carry out a strict campaign against these fake universities.”

The academician said it is a matter of shame that many became doctors without even submitting a thesis because of these fake universities. “While there are many who have been tricked by these fake universities into pursuing programmes, there are also some who joined such programmes after knowing their incapacity to obtain degrees through hard work and learning process. “The second category must face legal action as they have been cheating the society with their fake degrees.

There are many holding senior government positions after obtaining these fake degrees. No lenience should be shown towards them as there are many well-qualified Bahrainis who are jobless.