Thursday, Aug 28, 2008

Manama: Bahrain's Civil Service Bureau, the organisation in charge of managing the staff and payroll for all ministries, has pledged to take disciplinary measures against employees guilty of presenting fake diplomas for recruitment or promotion purposes.

"We apply a strict zero-tolerance policy when it comes to accepting diplomas from applicants for positions in the government sector and we will take strict disciplinary action against anyone guilty of presenting a forged certificate or diploma," Shaikh Khalid Bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa, the Civil Service Bureau head of recruitment, said.

Eight Bahrainis were named in a list of people who had allegedly bought fake university degrees from the US. The list was released following the arrest of the ring leaders who operated out of Washington State.

"We urge all people interested in furthering their studies to enroll only with universities that are accredited by the education authorities.

"They must be extremely careful when they deal with universities that promote themselves online to attract potential students," Shaikh Khalid said yesterday.

More than 33,000 people are employed in Bahrain's government sector.

Earlier this week, the education ministry said it adhered to high standards in its diploma equivalence policy, but did not say if any of the people whose names appeared on the list had approached the ministry to have their fake US degrees endorsed.

The names of several people in Gulf Cooperation Council countries were among the 9,612 on the list who had allegedly purchased degrees and diplomas from the US diploma mill.

The Saudi higher education authorities last week said they would investigate 68 names of people who might have paid for "proof" they graduated from college or obtained a PhD.

The US Department of Justice has refused to release the list to the public, but several media outlets in the US has published it.

By Habib Toumi

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