afew may have neither been angry nor ashamed of what i wrote last wednesday concerning the fake degrees although it may have tainted their conscience. the widespread scandal is not new because persons at all levels have bene- fited on the strength of fake certificates and degrees. there are approximately thousands of people who actually hold intermediate school certificates but have acquired jobs in the military and other places on the strength of fake degrees. many were promoted although they hold only high school certificates, while others who hold fake degrees — university, masters, doctorate have found green pastures in the education and training sectors in the government. like others, i heard of a problem in the 1960s that some of those who never left kuwait and were not bright students in their school days got doctorate degrees especially from egypt and those include a former undersecretary, some educators, and others but they did not hurt anyone because they worked in the private sector. almost all of us remember, until very recently when some well-known people and mps met senior state of- ficials and took pictures with them on the occasion of obtaining higher degrees and some of them could not even pronounce the name of the university — the university from which they purchased their degrees. of course, people must have not forgotten what was published by the new york times in may 2000 because we too had written about it. the scandal involving a pakistani company which was convicted of selling thousands of university degrees -- master’s and doctorate degrees -- in the names of prestigious us universities complete with seals endorsed by the universities presidents and us officials, including the then us secretary of state john kerry. the pakistani company made a fortune especially from citizens of countries in africa and asia, and the gulf in particular. i published the names of many of them, and i do not remember if the ministry of education then moved to do something it. it was nice that the council of ministers last week asked the minister of education and higher education to ‘punish’ all those who are holding fake degrees, but we all know that proving this is a complex process. this process will take a long time and this will be good enough to make us forget about the issue after preoccupying us with other scandals and issues. it may end up with condemning a few people, taking firm action against them, and no more. the problem is actually complex as a large number of influential people are involved who now occupy sensitive positions. there is another group of people who hold certificates and degrees but they have taken pains to study, but unfortunately the universities from which they quali- fied are not recognized. then again there are those who have received certificates and degrees from a well-known university but they are fakes and yet again there are a few who have obtained degrees and certificates from nonexistent universities. a trustworthy friend told me our embassy in washington had suggested to the ministry of education to remove some students from unrecognized american universities and enroll them in better universities and extend the period of their scholarship to make up for the lost time because studying in non-reputable universities will cause harm to the homeland in future. the education ministry rejected the interference of the ministry of foreign affairs in educational matters because the number of these students was relatively small but this ministry silence soon doubled that number of students. of course the problem of those who hold the sharia certificates is wider and much bitter. here we remind the readers of the scandal involving a cleric who has admitted to holding a fake doctorate degree for years. finally, i do not know if it is funny or sad that kuwait is the only country in the world that has an association of phd forgers which was formed to put pressure on the government to recognize their certificates and employ them on such basis. note: it has been rumored that an official in a health office has received $2 million from a known hospital for helping process the bills at a fast pace by the ministry of health. who in the ministry of health denies the news?

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