The Acting Director General of the Ghana Education Service, Michael Nsowah
is alarmed by the production of doctored and totally faked school results
and certificates to facilitate admission into tertiary institution.
He says the illegal activity is on a massive scale and unless the police
step in to clamp down on the activities of the syndicate involved it could
jeopardize the ability of Ghanaian students to further their education
internationally.
In a report carried by the Daily Graphic, Mr. Nsowah affirmed that “We
need to clamp down on the activities of those producing the fake
certificates. If we don’t do that, it will debase the credibility of the
West Africa Senior Secondary School Certificate Examination,” he said.
Some public universities and polytechnics have this year alone sacked
about 400 students for entering the institutions through fraudulent means
such as the use of fake certificates.
The Accra Polytechnic, for instance has dismissed more than 94 fresh and
continuing students for using fake certificates to gain admission to the
institution. The polytechnic is still probing 591 other students.
The University of Ghana has also sacked about 160 fresh students so far.
The authorities of the university are still checking the document
submitted by the fresh students.
According to Mr. Nsowah, now that Ghanaian students were writing the
WASSSCE, there was the need to protect the certificates to enable the
students to continue their studies both locally and internationally.
He said as part of the efforts to eliminate the practice, a proposal had
been made to the West African Examinations Council to submit the names of
those qualified for university admission on compact discs to the various
universities and polytechnics soon after the WASSCE results had been
released.
According to him, the attitude of those behind the fake certificates was
undermining efforts to ensure that qualified persons gained access to
tertiary education.
Mr Nsowah said heads of second cycle schools had also been asked to insist
on checking the original certificates of students before admitting them.
