by Q. ISA DAUDPOTA
IT all began with false eyelashes. Growing up in the 1960s I could not fathom why actresses with plastic insertions appeared attractive to their fans. The equally disgusting discovery of fake-coloured nails on Americans was made in the late 1980s. An office mate explained these were off the shelf and not obtained through careful tending of the cuticles.
Returning to academia in Pakistan in the first half of the last decade, one discovered how expats and other Pakistanis were applying and getting jobs in our institutions using fake degrees from fake universities — here and abroad — using fake publications. In the context of this article, a fake academic journal is an online journal that has no referees (despite a long list of editorial board members) and that takes a fee from the author to get the article published online, very quickly.
Nearly eight years ago, I informed Dr Atta-ur-Rahman of a fake journals publishing racket in Faisalabad, which needed to be squashed by the Higher Education Commission (HEC) and the law agencies, failing which it would grow and entice academics to take the short-cut to promotion and privileges. The damaging role of substandard universities in our midst that had received a charter was also highlighted.
Unfortunately, the advice was not heeded. As a result, we have parliamentarians with fake degrees hoodwinking the HEC and the Election Commission for over two years. Sadly, the Supreme Court has also failed to take up an old petition by members of civil society outlining a simple process for verifying degrees that could be completed in a few weeks.
The issues of plagiarism, fake degrees, fake and substandard universities and dishonest politicians are intimately linked. A common response to this hydra-headed problem is despair. Wait until society reforms itself, some say. Proponents of this approach would like society to attack seemingly far more important issues, the solution of which would make such ‘minor’ issues disappear.
Dawn for more
(Thanks to Robin Khundkar)