In Summary
The recent revelation by the Public Service Recruitment Secretariat (PSRS) that close to 700 job applicants submitted forged certificates is most disturbing.
Fake certificates point to a problem that must be
curbed lest this nation falls into the hands of ignoramuses masquerading
as intellectuals.
Early last year, deputy Education minister Philipo
Mulugo revealed that a total of 5,200 students in various secondary
schools could neither read nor write.
Of course, all these young illiterates had earlier
on “passed” their Standard 7 national exams, qualifying for a place in
Form 1.
We can’t but wonder what it will mean for the
nation if some of such youth forge their way to high school, university
and into public service! And unfortunately, we have a system that tends
to put a lot of premium on certificates, reminiscent of what the
renowned Brazilian educationist Paulo Freire, him of Pedagogue of the
Oppressed fame, refers to as the “diploma disease”.
There is presently in Tanzania a huge clamour for
degrees, from Master’s to Doctorates, giving the impression that only
those with such form of certification qualify for anything in life,
including being an MP. What a falsity!
The proliferation of universities in the country
could be pushing people who don’t fully qualify to enrol, the type that
ends up applying all manner of tricks to get a degree without earning
it.
Worse still, our poor verification system, like
the fact that we still don’t have national IDs, makes it possible for a
person to use another’s certificates to get a place in college.
As we applaud the PSRS for their effort to unearth
fraudsters bent on reaping where they didn’t sow, we call upon the
relevant authorities to expedite the issuance of national IDs.
But more importantly, employers should never take for granted certificates presented by job applicants – let them count more on their own internal verifications.
