Your degrees, marks will soon be on smart cards

Conning employers and getting jobs by producing fake degrees is about to get a lot tougher.

Conning employers and getting jobs by producing fake degrees is about to get a lot tougher.

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Universities in the state will soon give students smart cards. These cards will have a student’s marksheets and degrees stored on them. They will also post information on a student’s degree online. Prospective employers, by paying a small fee, can verify these online.

The state has come up with this system to beat the rising cases of bogus certificates.

Higher Education Minister, Rajesh Tope, said out of 1,134 cases of fake degrees in the state in the past year, 237 were related to the University of Mumbai.

“I agree that there are a large number of bogus certificates and marksheets circulating in the market,” Tope said in the Council on Thursday in response to legislator, Bhagwan Salunkhe’s query. “All cases have been taken up by the police.” He added that the Centre has also set up a special investigative team with the help of the Central Bureau of Investigation to probe such cases.

Tope said that bogus certificates found so far have not been able to match the originals, which have certain security measures that cannot be replicated.

“However, we understand that this kind of verification becomes difficult for employers since people who apply for jobs submit photocopies of their certificates. Systems like a smart card and an online verification system will prevent forging [of certificates],” Tope said.

Tope said by May, the government will introduce the Prevention of Unauthorised Institutions Act to curb the functioning of bogus institutions.