Officials investigate counterfeit diplomas at five colleges
High-level officials are currently checking five colleges in Vientiane to establish if there are students using fake secondary school diplomas to illegally continue their education in the colleges, a senior government official revealed.
Those involved in the production and sale of counterfeit diplomas are warned that they will face serious consequences if they are detected.
Deputy Director General of the Ministry of Education and Sports' Investigation Department Sengthong Sisavanthong told the Vientiane Times yesterday that the officials have taken the names of all students from the colleges in order to check.
“We are now checking if the names of the students match the names of secondary school graduates in our database,” Mr Sengthong said. “The Minister has instructed us to conduct inspections.”
The investigation comes before the start of new academic year set to begin next month. In the past, many students were found using fake secondary school diplomas to continue their education.
The inspections taking place at the five colleges is a normal practice. After it is concluded, Mr Sengthong assured that officials would continue to check other colleges in a bid to address the wrongdoings.
In addition, he stated that the ministry has instructed provincial and district officials to check lower secondary and primary schools to prevent students from using fake certificates as they have done in the past.
Those found to be involved in the production of the fake diplomas will be penalised under criminal law as they have been in previous cases, Mr Sengthong said.
Offending students will only be asked to return to complete their classes as normal, he added.
“Those students who refuse to return to complete their classes as normal will never be granted diplomas,” the deputy director confirmed.
From August 2011 to June 2012, officials in charge of the inspection mission found 292 fake secondary school diplomas which students used to continue their education in vocational or higher education institutions, according to a report from the ministry.
Two people involved in producing the diplomas and seven others selling the certificates have so far been prosecuted.
In the 2009-2010 academic year, inspection officials from Luang Prabang province found 108 fake secondary school diplomas, with eight people involved in the operation found guilty. Those students found with counterfeit diplomas were asked to return to complete their secondary school courses, the report said.
In addition, the inspection officials have found students used fake certificates to get into a higher level of secondary school.
In 2009, for instance, 158 students in Thoulakhom district, Vientiane province, were found to have used fake documents that certified they completed grade 3 and 4 of upper secondary school to enable them to skip the two grades to progress to the higher level.
