The Vice-President of the Movement for Change (PzP) and former Member of Parliament and Vice-President of the Parliament of Montenegro Branka Bošnjak announced that she has been continuously warning about the alarming situation regarding falsified diplomas for a long time.
She also stated in the press release that she has been warning for a long time about the "much larger and more widespread appearance of graduate ignorance, i.e. purchased diplomas".
"Which are produced in the environment, and which the authorities in our Ministry lightly nostrify, because the paper formalities are satisfied and it is clear to them that the content is a pure lie, that it is an original forgery. Unfortunately, those dubious educational institutions are recognized and accredited in our neighboring states, and it is more than obvious to all of them in the ENIC center that diplomas are 'stamped' on them, lightly, by abbreviated procedure, and it is an open secret that they are obtained for a few thousand euros. Someone's effort and hundreds of sleepless nights spent over book, in order to gain some knowledge and prepare for the exams, they become meaningless with just a couple of 'excursions' to the neighborhood and some cash in the pocket, and the diploma is there, and our authorities duly nostrify it and stamp it for passage to the labor market," said Bošnjak .
She added that this mere formalism, the absence of sanctions and turning a blind eye to obvious deviations, caused a dangerous "epidemic" of such diplomas in the public sector, especially in healthcare, the police, education...
"Every year, over 5.000 diplomas are submitted for certification. That number alone is unrealistic and tells us that we are in a big problem... Recent drivers, security guards, hygienists, hairdressers and the like graduated in vain, and it is not rare that some of them, at the suggestion of their parties that are in power, quickly became managers in state and local enterprises, state bodies, even though the leaders of those parties are very aware of how these cadres of theirs got their diplomas. This is a premeditated murder of our country by those who were elected to lead takes into account the public interest. Unfortunately, we also have such dubious degrees in the parliamentary benches, at the top of the Government, in the most important state-owned enterprises, but there is an obvious lack of political will to put an end to this, because there are such 'mangupas' in the ranks of all parties, so it very consciously makes knowledge meaningless. The fact that some have even adorned themselves with dubious master's and doctorate degrees and present themselves as experts, but their public appearances usually give them away, their illiteracy, superficiality and ignorance 'rings' because a long time ago our wise people said 'school is not started'".
Bosniak points out that the political will to fight this scourge is lacking.
"But the lack of reaction from the prosecutor's office is unacceptable. The Minister of Education, Science and Innovation informed us of the alarming information that dozens of criminal charges have been filed by that department in recent years against persons for whom confirmation was received that their diploma submitted for certification was not valid and it was not obtained at the institution that the diploma states issued it, but that none of those cases were prosecuted. It is doubtful that the public knew anything about it until now, nor did the Ministry ask for feedback on the status of those criminal charges. It was as if there had been a secret pact of silence and non-violence between the Ministry and the prosecution, and filed a report just for the sake of filling out the form and absolved herself of responsibility. advancing on the basis of that diploma she falsified. We are truly a country of absurdities".
Bošnjak praised the move of the Minister of Education, Science and Innovation Anđela Jakšić Stojanović for making the information public, but also stated that the prosecutors must be held accountable for what has not been done.
"Because in these cases, the institution that allegedly issued the diploma confirmed that it was a forgery, and the prosecution remained silent. I call on the Prosecutor's Council to react urgently and see the state of these cases and call the acting prosecutors to account. I call on the Government to find a way to urgently review all diplomas from dubious educational institutions of various unions, megatrends, tutin, bihać, sokolak, new markets, brčka, travnik and 'ventilate' the public administration from these fakes. If we are going to be a 'knowledge society', and they are full to us, then let's do everything to make it so, to promote knowledge, and not let those with dubious diplomas create the future of the country for us. Knowledge is the only thing that can lead us to progress and development, that's why we should value it and have zero tolerance for bought diplomas. This current backlog must be stopped. And that is not the job of the Ministry of Education alone, but of the whole society," Bošnjak warned.
She reminded that an investigation was launched against the Independent University of Banjaluka (NUBL), the University of Business Studies (UPS) Banjaluka, the European University in Brcko, the University of Travnik, the International University of Travnik, as well as the College of Applied and Legal Sciences Prometheus from Banjaluka. , and that in Serbia some educational institutions are being questioned more and more loudly.
"It would be interesting to compare the data from the border crossings, so that we can see how long these 'students' stayed during their 'study' in the countries from which they obtained their diploma. And I guarantee that if you ask them to list the three subjects they passed and the three professors who were handed over to them so they wouldn't know. But their diplomas were certified and they were released into the labor market, while those who earned it with their work and effort are languishing at the labor office. We must urgently put an end to this, if there is a will, there is and the way, so let's go," Bošnjak concluded.
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