Members of the National Commission for the Evaluation of Training Domains Offered Abroad met recently in Yaounde under the auspices of the Ministry of Higher Education in their 62nd session. The outcome of the deliberations was, to say the least, awful. A total of 308 of the 911 certificates presented by candidates were discovered as fake. That means at least one third of the documents were not authentic. The false certificates range from the General Certificate of Education, GCE (and its French equivalent, the Baccalaureat) to university diplomas, all presented by young Cameroonians aspiring for posts of responsibility in the country or for positions in continuing education.

The list has come to add to those recently expelled from the National Security training School in Mutengene. Of late, such spectacles have been almost benign, with cases of fraud in virtually all spheres of the national academic life as Cameroonians, especially the youth, look for shortcuts to make ends meet.

Although it is difficult to say where such traits come from, it is likely that the bad guys being fished out cannot end the roll call. There are certainly more still hanging out, unidentified. It may also be easy to jump into a conclusion here congratulating those who worked so hard to identify the fake certificates. But the question that must be answered is what happens after so many culprits have been identified? Could the punitive measures go beyond the mere refusal to recognize their certificates? Decidedly, the fact that the Minister of Higher Education has published the names can already be the start of total denunciation of such debasing attitudes that are increasingly gaining ground in the country.

It is either that Cameroonians want to apply for a job and think the best approach is to falsify documents or they simply think that the state of affairs in the country gives room for all forms of moral bankruptcy that they should stop at nothing to get what they want.

Such a growing phenomenon equally raises questions as to the likely genesis of such behaviour. Again it may sound too simplistic to say everyone stands accused. But more succinctly, parents and decision-makers must have to stop and wonder at where the society is heading with such deviant behaviour. Cases have, in the past, been reported of parents fighting hard to influence teachers concerning the results of their kids. At first sight, such parents may be out to avoid paying fees for the same class twice or having the child dismissed or to face the hurdle of looking for admission elsewhere. Such excuses can never lack but they are never justifiable enough.

No one captures the facts better than the 16th President of the United States of America, Abraham Lincoln who wrote to his son’s teacher that: «In school teach him it is far honourable to fail than to cheat …. teach him to have faith in his own ideas, even if everyone tells him they are wrong….”

Consequently, even if parents or students involved in fraudulent activities hide behind the several wrongdoings in society, such behaviour must never be allowed to prosper because of the damaging effect to the image of our youth and country. It is therefore unacceptable that a huge army of those in whose hands the future of the country lies should be heading for the abyss in broad daylight to the total bewilderment of the entire nation. Stringent measures are needed to combat such ills, failing which a generation is going to be sacrificed just out of mere clemency.