Each time I remember the Covid-19 period, the good that it brought sometimes amazes me, wondering if those good outcomes would ever have been thought of. 

I have always maintained that destructive as the pandemic was, it had its positive sides, endorsing the saying that there is a silver lining in every misfortune. New normal opportunities have sprung up for employers, employees, families, churches and the like.

Some such silver linings include the opportunity for employees to work from home. Thus, the arrangement benefits both the employer in terms of savings on utilities, for example, while the employee also saves on transportation and food and perhaps enjoys additional time with the family.

The other benefit it brought was the stay-at-home time it gave individuals who felt academically inclined to pursue online courses, home and abroad, which were advertised in abundance via the internet. By the time the pandemic was over, one woke up to find countless Masters and Doctorate (PhD) degree holders who had multiplied thanks to the global online degree courses.

Whether those honours were in conformity with the Ghanaian academic standards is something else for discussion. Already, though, questions on “unearned academic” titles are coming up strongly.  

Academic titles

Recently, the regulator, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), is up in arms against the wrong use of academic titles in the country’s space.

The first time I read about the caution of GTEC, I asked myself questions, including whether there was any need for the caution and what had necessitated the bold decision to rid our society of fake academic laurels that are being paraded in our corridors. 

Members of the public have been confused for far too long, but since it is better late than never, one would like to wholeheartedly support the bold move, hoping that it would put fear in those conferring sub-standard academic degrees and those paying heavy sums to receive them. The hope is that the Commission will crack the whip on all and sundry without bias.

The move takes one’s mind back to many years ago and maybe as recent as a few months ago when alleged fake titles and impostors have been uncovered in one way or the other.

Imposters

Some of the past imposter cases were found in medical fields, in accountancy, in journalism, in the legal profession, in the education sector, in pharmacy and shockingly sometimes even in claims to be men of God. 

The story of a quack male gynaecologist who opened a clinic somewhere in Accra years ago and practised for years painfully comes to mind.

Many innocent women, young and old, fell prey to his hands, where he performed substandard and problematic fibroid surgeries on some young women. This same gynaecologist also performed abortions, examined women who had problems with their reproductive organs. In the process, he was reported to have put some women to sleep for surgeries to be performed, only to fondle and have sex with them during his surgery.

The question is, how did that imposter open a clinic known to the community and, for years, operate as a medical professional, causing harm to so many patients without detection? 

Also in the news a few years ago was an alleged quack plastic surgeon who was performing surgeries on women who went in for breast and bottom enlargements as well as tummy tucks. His case only came to light when one of his patients died in the process.

People have faked as practising journalists and reportedly taken money from organisations, individuals or families to facilitate dropping a report or coverage on a case they were going to handle against them.

There have also been reported cases of fake pharmacists and even medical doctors, reported in the news, who operated in some rural settings and were prescribing drugs and selling fake drugs to unsuspecting communities.

The cases of quack professionals operating in our society are not new. They have managed successfully to spring their pranks on the public for many years without getting noticed, because of the high level of illiteracy, poverty, ignorance and anything-goes mantra that we live with.

We are so vulnerable, we tend to accept and believe in a lot of things without delving into details.

One has seen wide-open eyes and ears since GTEC’s public caution over false academic titles. On discussion programmes in the media and during introductions at public functions lately, people have come out almost immediately after they have been introduced accidentally with unearned titles, to correct them. The message is definitely going down well. 

Hopefully, some sanity would be brought into our public spaces as far as the use of academic titles is concerned. In that vein, it is expected that all other falsifications, whether in titles or professional status, would lessen, if not eliminated.

The exercise also calls on employers to be thorough in screening candidates for jobs and positions in public offices.

Thank you, GTEC, for introducing some clean-up as well as public awareness in our system. This is a shout-out to other regulators in carrying out their mandates without fail.

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The writer can be reached via email at vickywirekoandoh@yahoo.com