Umair Pervez Khan,
Education is the foremost and important pillar of any society. It is considered as one of the prime remedies for all the problems faced by the states like Pakistan. Unfortunately, the standard of the education is not up to the mark in our country. Moreover, the current education system is not only facing problems on policy level, but it has been threatened from the intellectual dishonesty within the available fraternity of the academicians of the country.
According to the recent report published in one of the national newspapers, it has been disclosed that more than 30 faculty members of a well reputed and highly funded university, situated in the heart of the capital Islamabad, i.e. International Islamic university, have been allegedly involved in the incident of forgery. More than 102 research papers, which the faculty members have published under their name are either plagiarized or they are below the standard of publication criteria being imposed by HEC.
The academicians are working on the posts of Lecturer, Assistant professors and even Professors in the said university and include faculty members from both male and female sections. It is indeed a matter of collective shame for the society.
Furthermore, these faculty members have received heavy amount against these publications. The amount should be recovered and should be granted to original research scholars that may bring good name to their institutions and country.
Interestingly, it is not for the first time that such incident has taken place. Same institution has gained sufficient space in the news in 2012 when one of its senior faculty member had to face humiliation due to same plagiarism problem and later was blacklisted by HEC, when necessary action was due on the part of university.
This academic dishonesty and corruption has become a great menace for our society. According to me, any society may continue to work with economic corruption, but it cannot live long with academic dishonest people. To me, one can only tackle the problem of economic corruption when one can have a great academic intellect in the country which will pave the way for the society to progress.
This scandal has shaken the confidence of the entire academic fraternity of the country. It is need of the hour that this scandal should not only be thoroughly investigated but culprits should be punished. It is the right time for HEC to strike and conduct an “Operation Clean Up” in the academia, as government of “Naya Pakistan” is trying to eradicate corruption from other spheres of the country.
HEC should also reconsider its policy regarding research journals. The criterion for the recognition of the journals by the said authority must meet the international standards of the research publications. This is one of the reasons that faculty members being promoted nationally on the basis of quantity of research articles published in HEC recognized journal do not hold similar academic worth in international market, so our researchers lack specific international recognition.
According to the information of reliable sources, no action has yet been taken against the involved faculty members by the university administration, instead people and students talking about the said news are being approached by different faculty members of the university and are told not to share such news as it is defaming the institution. The authorities should act against the policy of “complete silence” adopted by university administration in such an important matter.
About Author: Umair Pervez Khan is an MPhil graduate in International Relations. Currently visiting lecturer at COMSATs, Islamabad. He can be reached at: [email protected]