Teachers with fake qualifications on the rise

THE South African Council of Educators (Sace) wants teachers found guilty of being in possession of fraudulent qualifications sent to prison to curb the spread of the “crime”, which is threatening to undermine the teaching profession.

Sace said a woman who presented herself to it for registration with fraudulent qualifications was recently arrested, convicted and given a suspended sentence.

Sace said it would today refer another 19 cases to the Hawks for investigation.

It could not be established in which provinces the cases originated.

Fraudulent qualifications have become an increasing problem in the country with the SA Qualifications Authority (Saqa) saying last year it had seen an increase in the number of fake qualifications.

“This is getting out of hand. Some people looking for teaching jobs don’t have the qualifications and are buying these fake qualifications. Fortunately, we have been able to catch them, because we are working very closely with the ter- tiary institutions.

“Some of the fraudulent qualifications you can spot just by looking at them, because there are obvious indicators such as the seal of the university which could be a give-away,” said Sace spokesperson Themba Ndhlovu.

Ndlovu said they recently received fraudulent qualifications from the University of Zululand, Unisa and the University of North West.

He said while they were happy that people were being found guilty, they would like to see stiffer sentences imposed to serve as a deterrent to others.

“We would like these people to see the inside of a prison, because this behaviour is damaging the teaching profession.”

Ndlovu said the council was deeply concerned that there was a possibility that many fraudulent qualifications may have already been used to secure jobs.

“The challenge now is what do we do with the teachers who are already employed with fake qualifications?”

Sace could decide to demand to see all teachers’ original qualifications for authentication, he said.