Zimbabwean society has grappled with not only the scourge of counterfeit documents or credentials but the costs as well. There are high cases of unlicensed drivers being involved in fatal accidents, students failing examinations because the bogus tutor did adequately equip them.
Unqualified persons can take on tasks that require high levels of intelligence just because they can produce an authentic qualification document.
Similarly, dishonest students seeking to enrol at prestigious learning institutions that require high pass marks can still get selected by simply presenting doctored certificates.
These examples show the shortcomings of centralized systems or databases that we are so accustomed. Criminals and bad actors like to exploit any shortcomings for personal gain.
This is evidenced by the number of illegal documents—particularly educational certificates— that are circulating.
Criminals targeting learning institutions
Criminals specifically target educational certificates or credentials because they are more rewarding than counterfeiting currency.
Economic hardships and limited opportunities are convincing even the usually morally upright to have second thoughts. Besides, many have gone on to lead a good life after using doctored certificates and that has not gone unnoticed.
Of course, not everyone endorses this rationalization of cheating. Some are dedicating to fighting this scourge. Those that want restore the integrity of the education system propose many solutions that they believe will deter future counterfeit or forgery acts.
Writing on a popular technology news site three years ago, a Zimbabwean engineer Jacob Kudzayi Mutisi made his case as he sounded the alarm about fraudulent degrees. He states:
“The production of fraudulent documents, or fake degrees and diplomas, has been going on in Zimbabwe, but it is only in the last five years that educational fraud or ‘fake qualifications’ have become a worldwide problem.”
He gives an example of a top official with Zimbabwe’s national revenue collector who was outed as a holder of a fake degree. An internal audit showed he barely qualified for his position.
Such an incident tarnished the reputation of the employer as well as that of the learning institution that had its certificate forged.
Mutisi argues for a different kind of a system for Zimbabwe where qualifications get verified before one gets accepted at a university or is given a formal employment contract.
He gives the example of the UK government which introduced what it terms the Higher Education Degree Data-check (HEDD).
HEDD is the UK Higher Education’s official service for candidate verification and university authentication. It was launched in 2011 with funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for England. It provides enquirers with the ability to verify a candidate’s academic credentials or authenticate a university or college in the UK.
There is no doubt, the UK based higher learning institutions are better resourced than those in Zimbabwe. As such, they can sustain operating such a database without affecting core business.
Sadly, the same cannot be said of Zimbabwean institutions. Meagre resources may not permit learning institutions to effectively tackle the problem. Still, the problem persists and it needs to be tackled urgently.
The cost inaction to the institution as well as the students is proving to be huge.
To begin with, Zimbabwean students sometimes have a hard time convincing foreign employers that their academic credentials are authentic.
Some Zimbabwean students had to re-enrol for the same study but with a “reputable” learning institution because potential employers are not sure about the authenticity of their initial qualification.
Meanwhile, the learning institutions whose certificates are being targeted will also suffer. As the problem worsens, more students will shun local universities in favour of foreign ones.
In the long run, local universities will suffer, both in terms of revenues lost as well as the quality of graduates they produce. A learning institution with a tattered reputable will not last.
So while students themselves cannot do anything to stop counterfeiters, learning institutions can adopt technologies that can restore credibility in the long run. Using a decentralized blockchain, an institution can stop bad actors from soiling its image.
In this scenario, students will be issued with digital copies of their educational certificates. The institution will maintain a copy that cannot be altered or counterfeited. So whenever an employer or any other entity wants to verify the authenticity, this can be done easily and cheaply.
Blockchain networks like Algorand’s decentralized chains allow organizations to create and issue digital certificates or credentials. A digital certificate is beneficial for many reasons.
To begin with, recruiters can focus more on the main task of interviewing candidates to meet existing needs without spending much time doing background checks.
It saves recruitment fees due to a bad hire while the security of information is assured. Holders of such digital educational certificates will be assigned with private keys or codes that allow only them to control and share these. There is no possibility of forgery when digital certificates are stored on a resilient blockchain.
That is why blockchains are seeing growing use cases, they are effective at storing data. Any altering of data can only happen via an open and transparent consensus mechanism.
That transparency is one of the main reasons the blockchain is gaining trust with governments and large corporations. The technology engenders confidence where it presently lacks.
Using the smart contract architecture of Algorand’s decentralized blockchain, a learning institution can undercut criminal elements. In any case, issuing digital credentials is always cheaper than actual paper documents.
Crucially, hackers cannot break a decentralized blockchain as it stands now. Doing this requires massive computing power and presently no cyber criminals groups have demonstrated this capability.
It may be time for Zimbabwean learning institutions to look at the blockchain as a solution to this longstanding problem.
Terence Zimwara is an Ambassador with Algorand Foundation, a technology company behind the world’s first scalable and decentralized blockchain that is based on pure proof of stake consensus. The Foundation is offering funding across application development, tools & infrastructure, research, and education & community. You can contact Terence on Whatsapp 263 771 799 901 or [email protected]
Articles You May Want To Read,
IMPORTANT NOTICE:Access LIVE News, Jobs and Exchange rates directly on WhatsApp. Send a WhatsApp message with the word HIE to +263718636522 or just CLICK HERE to try it out. iHarare is now a information one-stop-shop. Please click on the links highlighted in Red to access News, Events, Jobs, Pricecheck, Classifieds, Dating and Education services by iHarare.For any queries contact us by CLICKING HERE .
