Teachers using fake certificate lose job

By Glenda Awikiak
THIRTY-TWO elementary teachers from Hela and Southern Highlands have lost their jobs after investigations found they had allegedly used fake certificates to get the job, according to a report from the Education Department.
The teachers were using fake grade 10 and 12 certificates to be in the Teaching Service Commission (TSC) payroll. They have now been deregistered from both, the report said.
Education Secretary Dr Uke Kombra, pictured, said a total of 48 teachers’ establishment documents were referred to the department’s internal audit unit for investigations after officers in the payroll division picked up discrepancies in the documents.
Out of the 48 teachers investigated, two teachers, a male and a female, with the same surname, were found to have used the same grade 12 certificate while 30 were found to have used fake grade 10 certificates.
Dr Kombra said investigations were continuing into 17 other teachers’ documents, 14 of which had grade 10 certificates and three with grade 12 certificates in order to confirm if they were actually teaching at schools.
“The department is clamping down on the use of fraudulent certificates by both school leavers and non-school leavers who are applying for tertiary institutions such as Teacher Training Colleges and Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) institutions” Kombra said.