How really worried, if at all, should Pakistani society be about the embarrassment of fake academic degrees, a subject that appears to revolve around Jamshed Dasti, who resigned his National Assembly seat (NA-178) but regained it on Saturday in the by-election. The details of his case are well-known and it seems that an ongoing futile discussion is going on.
It is futile without much doubt. Given the reality of our lives, what purpose will all this grumbling do. To the people of Dasti's constituency in Muzaffargarh the point of fake degrees and Dasti don't go together. He won the elections neatly! Will fake degrees cease to be sought after?
Of course, the fake degrees make one contemplate not just the availability and the marketing of these dubious academic pieces of worthless paper, but also to do some soul searching about the quality of education that is available in our educational institutions. It is an occasion to wonder about the ethical values that we have today, and the moral fiber of our leaders, rulers, affluent people, and so on who seek these counterfeit degrees.
Even if one were to go by the contention, and the argument that Pakistani society (or perhaps, in many other places in the world) these fake degrees have always been sought and provided for by mafias of varying dimensions, there is reason to wonder on the growing scale of the illegal operation. What is it that has compelled Pakistanis to acquire these dubious degrees? Having a bogus degree or certificate for getting into the parliament is one part of the stinking story.
Now that the requirements of being a graduate have been dropped and the rules changed to meet the changed set of rulers and circumstances, bogus degrees "discrediting the Parliament" is no more an uncomfortable thought. There are reminders that the requirements of being a graduate for seeking elections to the Parliament are virtually found nowhere in the world.
Sounds good, this above fact. But the question that troubles is about the extent to which there is fake, bogus, dubious - call it what you will - activity that is going on. Call it corruption, if you will. There is so much cheating that is taking place in this society, and there are so many rules that are being changed to meet the questionable, if not outright illegitimate needs of powerful individuals - in all spheres of our lives. The fake academic degree is yet another dimension of the ugliness of this society.
It is definitely worth pondering about the eventual fallout or the long term consequences on the students, and the young people of Pakistan from this particular case that reflects the occupants of the corridors of power - the corridors of power and thereby decision-making in Pakistan have a reputation that is more than questionable. What do such examples do to the psyche of the students community, and how far does it relate and link to the fact that classroom cheating in school, college, university and professional examinations has reached alarming, epidemic proportions?
What would it have to say to students who will contend that at least they bothered to appear in the examinations, even if they had to cheat their way through. At least they did not buy the degrees outright? The students could so argue, and so could their teachers. Interesting and even shocking scenarios can emerge in the future from this kind of thought process. How does the country's academic world feel about fake degrees of rulers and the ruling party parliamentarians?
This is a serious question that needs to be viewed in the right perspective. Also worth worrying about are the other fields, and professions where phony professionals and fake degrees are stepping stones to success. But is one overdoing this concern in a society where moral values have been sidelined by people so willingly, happily and collectively - and so blatantly.
One does need to mention what the Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani had to say on this theme of fake degrees when he addressed, on Thursday, a public rally to muster support for Jamshed Dasti in Muzaffargarh. He said that "the parliament was empowered to legislate on all issues and it should also take up the issue of fake educational degrees of public representatives."
Gilani further said that it was "the duty of the election commission to check the authenticity of degrees and if the EC had allowed a candidate to contest the election then there was no justification for any criticism." He added that "degrees of several assembly members have been challenged in the court and only after a court decision would it be appropriate to declare anyone's degree as fake."
The Prime Minister conceded that "fake degrees are ruining the parliament and political parties should discourage such ele ments." He went onto say that except the MQM there are members in all political parties having fake degrees. It is said that 80 percent of the parliamentarians have fake degrees and this brings disgrace to the parliamentarians." He pointed out that "the dictator General Pervez Musharraf (Retd) for his ulterior motives, had made compulsory, the condition of having a bachelor's degree so as to be eligible to contest parliamentary elections." That system is no more.
Now that the Prime Minister has voiced concern it remains to be seen on what the outcome of this will be. The Chairman of the National Assembly's Standing Committee on Education Abid Sher Ali has announced that all degrees of all parliamentarians are to be verified by the Higher Education Commission and a meeting has been summoned for next week (May 24) fore this purpose. What kind of scenario can be created once this is done? And the details made public?
Fake degrees and a parliamentarian is just one aspect of our lives. It is the larger context of this society condoning bogus degrees and as all that is substandard, fraudulent, and illegal that matters far more. That there are no early signs (if at all) visible of even an awareness of our unholy mess is what is worth underlining.
But let me end with this quote from a German-born American educator writer, Bel Kaufman who says that "Education is not a product: mark, diploma, job, money - in that order; it is a process, a never-ending one."
I am reminded of a lengthy definition of education that we were taught at school in the very early sixties (at St Lawrence's Boys High School, Soldier Bazaar Karachi which I must repeat with a sense of pride and gratitude). Now 48 years later, mercifully, I have begun to forget - but that definition emphasised " the all round development of the whole man". This small fragment remains etched in a memory that is losing "grip" as a famous poet has said. And I am unable recall the poet's name right now...!
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