My Op-Ed published at Urdu Times can be read at the PDF file linked below. An English synopsis is also shared:
Fake Degrees and Plagiarism
My article published in Urdu Times discusses the plague of fake academic degrees and plagiarism that has been spread from Canada to Australia. It includes doctors, academics, engineers, journalists, and other professionals.
It begins with the news of censure by the Supreme Court of Pakistan of over 50 members of legislatures who used fake academic degrees to fulfill candidacy requirements. They have been banned from taking part in future elections. At the same time many other politicians are under scrutiny. This scrutiny has not been wide enough to cover hundreds of thousand s of fake degree users in private and civil service.
The article discusses many examples from Saudi Arabia, Canada, and other countries.
It refers to investigative reports that have disclosed that there are at least 15,000 people with fake credential serving in several major organizations in Saudi Arabia. One of the key perpetrators of providing fake credentials was accused to be a person of Arab heritage who fled to neighboring UAE. It is said that people were charged thousands of dollars for fake certificates.
The article also refers to an investigative report published in Toronto star that revealed a US network of fake credential providers that established over 100 fake institutes and were selling false credential in over 100 countries. It was estimated that this group earned over $ 70 million through this business. The Star estimated that such businesses earn over a billion dollar each year.
It also mentions major examples of accusation of plagiarism by education officers, journalists, and writers in the West. Several of these lost their jobs, or were censured, and were compelled to apologies. These included Chris Spence, and Margaret Wente from Canada, and Fareed Zakaria of CNN, as the well known names. It also refers that in the past Joe Biden was also accused of plagiarism.
I propose that people indulge in using false credentials to obtain financial benefits, and use plagiarism to avoid hard work or to impress their peers and readers.
It also discusses the general concepts of plagiarism and anxiety of influence in Urdu and other literature.
The Op-ed also quotes the example of an Urdu writer in Canada who was reported to have an MA in English degree from a Pakistani college that does not even issue such degrees.
It suggest that the fact that use fake credentials and plagiarism may be rampant but it should not be an excuse for anyone to indulge into these practices.
