Thesis for sale : HEC failed to eradicate plagiarism

Experts copy already prepared theses for students after charging money: Government spending 'up', student interest 'down'
Lahore, Jan 20: With the government continuously increasing its budget for 'quality education', students in various educational institutes have started turning to paid 'experts' for their theses and research papers, it was learnt.

Students in many educational institutions in the city have started hiring 'experts' to prepare their research papers and theses, learnt on Monday.

According to students, it is a reasonable way to fulfil the compulsary academic requirement of submitting a thesis. According to teachers, the practice could spoil the careers of many students, as the requirement of theses and research papers is aimed at establishing a certain set of qualities among students that they can only attain by working on the theses assigned to them. Teachers say those who do not prepare theses on their own would be at a loss later in their careers.

Plagiarism: Meanwhile, these 'experts' have found a way of earning money without having to work. It was learnt that many experts betrayed their customers (the students) by copying already prepared theses from various libraries and other sources.

The Higher Education Commission (HEC) has taken several steps to eradicate plagiarism from its affiliate institutions and provided plagiarism-identifying software to local universities. A number of Punjab University (PU) teachers were also sacked on the charges of plagiarism. However, plagiarism is still increasingly popular among students. A PU faculty member, requesting anonymity, disclosed that the practice of purchasing theses was most common among students of elite institutions of the city. He said many students who fail to secure a job after graduation resort to selling theses, a practice becoming as common as reliance on tuition academies among school students.

Beaconhouse National University (BNU) Communication Adviser Arfa Sarfraz said the situation called for a higher degree of responsibility on part of faculty members. She said teachers could eradicate this practice by ensuring that the student who submitted a thesis prepared it himself. She said they could do this by questioning the students on various aspects of the thesis. A faculty member at a women's college claimed that the college was very strict on this matter. She said faculty members were used to a practice of investigating the source of information mentioned in every thesis, adding that students were often questioned in detail regarding their thesis. She said the college used 'plagiarism eradication software', which he said was extremely effective. She claimed college students feared the software and generally avoided the practice of purchasing theses.

Meanwhile, a student of a women's college, seeking anonymity, admitted submitting a thesis that was purchased for the price of Rs 20,000. She said instead of preparing a thesis herself, which was a rather difficult task according to her, she simply saved her pocket money and purchased the thesis from an expert. Amir Mukhtar, a professional researcher, said he was involved in the business of selling theses and claimed to have sold many theses to students from various institutions. He revealed that a vast majority of his customers were female students, adding that he only required a couple of weeks to prepare a comprehensive thesis. He said that he believed his profession was just as fair as any other profession. Daily Times

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34,000 educators to be recruited in Punjab
Lahore: The Senate's Standing Committee on Education held a meeting to review the developmental programme of the Punjab School Education Department here on Monday.

According to a DGPR handout, Senator Razina Khan, chairperson of the committee, while speaking on the occasion, said under the leadership of Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, a comprehensive plan had been made for the education sector.

Giving the briefing about the School Education Department, Schools Secretary Nadeem Ashraf said the Punjab government had allocated record financial resources for the education sector and enhanced education budget up to 90 per cent. Moreover, for capacity building of managerial staff of the department, a special training course was being started with the collaboration of the Government College University (GCU) and participants of the course would be appointed on administrative posts, he added.

The secretary schools further said that with a view to fulfilling the shortage of teachers in government schools, 34,000 educators were being recruited he maintained. He said public-private partnership was being promoted through the Punjab Education Foundation, which had trained 67,743 teachers of private schools and 11,750 schools of the private sector were being facilitated by fee support programme of the foundation.

Highlighting the steps taken by the department to raise the education standard, the secretary said the Directorate Staff Development had chalked out a three-year training programme for school teachers, adding that under the programme, 42,000 primary school teachers, 65,000 middle school teachers and 5,000 secondary school teachers would be imparted in-service training.

The secretary stated that 288 centres of excellence schools would be established at all tehsil headquarters and such schools would be provided standard facilities. He said these schools were being set up in the backward areas of southern Punjab in the first phase.

The meeting was attended by Senator Syed Javed Ali Shah, Senator Prof Muhammad Ibrahim Khan, Senator Dr Abdul Khaliq Pirzada, Senator Tahira Latif, Senator Liaqat Ali Bengalzai, Senator Amar Ahmad Khan, Senator Syed Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Senator Prof Sajid Mir and Senator SM Zafar. The News

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