The National Commission of Training Domains Offered Abroad of the Ministry of Higher Education has identified nine fake certificates, eight from the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Meeting in its 73rd session, the commission identified the fake certificates thanks to the missions sent to DR Congo and the Republic of Congo where the ‘Office du Baccalaureate’ of these countries confirmed and rejected certificates obtained.

A total of 480 files, 379 for General Certificates, 100 Technical and only one file for the equivalence were examined.

Prof. Wilfred Gabsa, Director of Academic Activities of the National Commission maintained that the session was peculiar for the fact that deliberations were mostly on certificates form two countries, Republic of Congo and DR Congo. He added that the commission is yet to send a mission to Chad to verify the certificates.

As follow-up, the Minister of Higher Education would sign a release and make public the list of fake certificates. The list would be published on the website of the Ministry and sent to universities, private institutions and potential employer Ministries such as Public Service, Health and Secondary Education.

Marthe Ndjebakal Sub-Director of Equivalence added that the judicial unit of the Ministry files a case in court for the law to take its course once the list is made public. She reiterated that parents and students should verify the status of national and international private institutions where they want to study.

“So many certificates are rejected because of the status of the institution and not the authenticity of the certificate. If the institution is not authorised, the commission cannot deliver the equivalence on such a certificate”, she said.

Once the file is rejected or an insufficient equivalence is delivered, this is not the end, there is room for petition. For any foreign certificate to have its use in Cameroon, the commission has to sit, study the file and give it an academic level for integration, advancement or reclassification of civil servants.