Dr. Ahmad Al Hyari

To hear that someone paid JD27,000 for his daughter to obtain a forged Turkish high school diploma, we are not talking about a father-daughter forgery. We are talking about a cancer that is being removed.

We were only waiting for some to tamper with our academic security by presenting us with fake high school diplomas. Jordanian students obtain high school diplomas from private and international schools in Turkey without merit.

Al-Mamlaka TV did a good job in its investigative investigation earlier this year, titled "Under the Equation," in which it revealed this.

The Higher Education Council followed up on the results of the investigation and decided to expel 92 students from Jordanian public and private universities who were found to have such fake degrees.

This not only harmed the fake diploma provider himself, and students who could have benefited from the undeserved seats obtained by the forgers, but more seriously, they entered universities and are about to leave, often by the same detours, fraudulently and corruptly.

They will receive a certificate that, although stamped with a valid official seal, is scientifically fraudulent. Then they will enter the market, and who knows what the market is.

They will compete with those who studied and worked hard to fulfill their dreams in search of a decent job.

The gravity of what happened is not just that. We are dealing with people who are willing to do anything to achieve their personal goals.

What if a student graduates as a school teacher, for example, do you expect him to produce students that we can be proud of? Imagine the repercussions of a forged certificate.

What if he graduated from accounting faculty, for example. This same student will be competing with a student who worked hard, whose parents worked hard, and then he will definitely not be an honest performer. Imagine with me where he will position himself in the market, and what tools he will deal with.

What if the student got a degree and worked in a food factory. Would we be assured that our food would be safe?

Even uglier than that. Imagine if this same person became a politician. No, imagine he becomes a parliamentarian. He is paying with his degree from which he obtained a university degree and then entered the market after that, in the same ways he will go on. In corruption. Imagine him approving the draft budget law, for example.

 

Dr. Ahmad Al Hyari is a Researcher at Center for Strategic Studies - University of Jordan