The Kenya National Qualifications Authority (KNQA) has embarked on flushing out all holders of fake academic certificates and prosecuting them for the offense of uttering a false document.
Dr. Juma Mukhwana, the KNQA Director-General has called for the collaboration of the national government, county governments and other employers to join the fight in weeding out quack graduates in the job market.
“You can imagine that if you have a fake doctor or a fake engineer it means that the lives of the people are in danger,” he said on Saturday.
Speaking during the graduation of 124 Scaffolders on Friday at Africa Oil and Gas Company (AGOL) in Miritini Mombasa, the DG said his certification regulating authority has intensified its fight to make sure only genuine graduates are allowed to work within the country and across borders.
In education, scaffolding refers to a variety of instructional techniques used to move students progressively toward stronger understanding and, ultimately, greater independence in the learning process.
The education quality regulator boss said foreigners seeking employment in the country and Kenyan students studying abroad will have their academic papers go through a thorough scrutiny when seeking employment in the country to meet the standards set by the government.
Dr. Mukhwana said KNQA has partnered with the Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI), Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), Department of Immigration Services and the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) to ensure people with fake academic papers are not allowed to use them in the country.
This comes at a time when the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) plans to roll out a fresh mass head count and bio-metric registration of teachers.
The training of the 124 youths was sponsored by AGOL Chairman Mohamed Jaffer who pledged to sponsor the construction of a Technical Education Institute to provide technical skills for the Kenya labour market and across the border.
The AGOL chairman said Africa as a continent has been lacking technical expertise and often has to source expatriates to bridge the gap in the workforce.
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Jane Muigai the Director of Toolkit is Skills Technical Training Institute underscored the importance of the 124 youth graduates in bringing international best practices in scaffolding to Kenya.
She said that the training will internationalize Kenya’s education in support of African Free Trade.
Scaffolding, also called scaffold or staging, is a temporary structure used to support a work crew and materials to aid in the construction, maintenance and repair of buildings, bridges and all other man-made structures.