Students Up In Arms Over Alleged Education Fraud

By Ranee Mohamed

A furore has erupted among sections of  CIM (Chartered Institute of Marketing) students and students aiming to sit for some foreign MBA and degree programmes after they discovered that some of their less capable colleagues have had their ‘burdens carried’ by an allegedly illegal outfit that has charged them a fantastic fee for completing their projects —  thereby making them appear to be the smartest.

The Sunday Leader learns that sums of Rs. 30,000 to Rs.200,000 and over have been paid to ‘carry the burden’ – in short do their project work each time for them.  After  all the assignments are done the students, it is learnt, pass the examinations without actually having to do any of the work. It has come to light that students following Masters and Degree programmes can also have not only their burdens carried, but whole new professional dreamlands realised with this newest venture.

“We pay foreign currency for these  examinations and expect that standards are maintained and quality is controlled. How would our children feel when they find out that a few have subcontracted their work to third parties and passed while our children have to work through the night to put forth their own work,” said an angry parent speaking to The Sunday Leader.

“We all know that having to do those projects is a great  burden. It was even more of a burden to me because I  am  a mother and housewife besides being a student. But yet I started my project work from the first day and on many days I went to sleep at about 2 a.m.  It is my belief that these projects evaluate the students differently to our local education system. Applying the given topic to a selected company and bringing out theoretical principles needs a perfect balance between creativity and the intellectual capacities of students.

Thus the grade I get will really represent my talent and having such qualifications would enable us to stand out from the rest in the job market. But having said this, now there seems to be no real indicator of the talent within each one of us. This will clearly create a black mark of doubt against any professional qualifying from Sri Lanka and on my qualification too. I have worked so hard, I have spent many sleepless nights and is this the way I am rewarded?” said Anupama.

“It is really unfair that students who have obtained their qualifications by another carrying their burden for them are able to flaunt the qualification with a smile while those who have worked hard to get the qualification now have to display it with not only dark circles, but tears as well,” said E. Wijewardene.

“Ceylonne speaking to The Sunday Leader said, “I go through a lot of trouble studying for CIM because I have a child who is one year and five months old waiting for me at home. It is sad to see students resorting to these methods of obtaining a qualification. It is not only me, there are so many students all over the country who are studying for these examinations. It not easy to find the money to pay for these foreign examinations,” said Ceylonne.

“I am extremely glad that this has been exposed and sad that young students are misled into believing that that this is the best way towards  achieving educational milestones. We are all afraid now that after all this UK would reassess the assignments format for Sri Lankan students, thereby penalizing genuine students who  burnt the midnight oil to obtain this qualification. A better method of evaluation must be put in place so that such injustices are not repeated. Is this the result of unnecessary pressures imposed on students into achieving top marks at professional examinations by their parents, employers, or even lecturers themselves? This trend has to stop and if not there would be a lot of depressed students who have failed their own (or others’) expectations,”  said Yohan Kumaraperuma.

Tasneem M. Galiwala speaking to The Sunday Leader said that she is devastated with the knowledge that students who have honestly done their work have been outsmarted by those who are not so competent.

“This is later carried into the workplace and often results in companies failing and affecting  the quality of performance as a whole. This also threatens the validity of the qualification in future for any individual who has achieved it in an ethical manner. The students who ‘outsource’ their assignments will graduate much faster whilst the others who put in their maximum effort to justify their pass have to compete with the top quality assignments of the ‘professors,”’ said a dejected Galiwala.

Chairperson, Chartered Institute of Marketing – Sri Lanka Region, Roshani Cooray when contacted by The Sunday Leader said that the Chartered Institute of Marketing can confirm that the CIM Sri Lanka regional board has met and is investigating the matter with full support from the UK Chartered Institute of Marketing. She went on to say that appropriate CIM academic malpractice procedures have been implemented to ensure the validity and authenticity of all assessments.

“The Chartered Institute of Marketing has many thousands of members around the world studying for its qualifications which are recognised and respected on an international basis.  To maintain high assessment standards and the integrity of its qualifications, the Institute has rigorous policies and procedures in place to ensure that fraudulent practices are quickly identified and dealt with. All students are informed of their responsibilities in relation to these policies and any infringements are dealt with in a very serious way,” elaborated the dynamic Chairperson, Roshani Cooray. raneemoham@hotmail.com