When education is for sale

Photo: The Moscow Times

Sometimes, the dangers of corruption seem abstract. So what if some company executive paid a bribe to get a procurement contract? So what if a politician gets a kickback? So what if a person paid a traffic cop to get on the way? There are daily reminders, however, that the costs of corruption are not always abstract.

Consider the spread of fake diplomas in Russia, covered in detail in The Moscow Times op-ed. Seventy engineers working at a factory building famous SU fighter jets and a new executive jet bought their university engineering degrees. The best teacher in Russia in 2007 bought her diploma.

The estimate is that in Russia between 30 – 50% of post-graduate degrees are purchased!

So next time someone gets on a plane in Russia, they should wonder whether people who built it were really qualified to do so. Next time someone gets sick, he should wonder whether doctors simply purchased their degrees. Next time someone sends their child to school, he should wonder whether the teacher should be there in the first place. Next time someone trusts a lawyer to get them out of jail, he should wonder whether that lawyer actually knows the law. The list can go on…one thing is clear – the costs of corruption can be very much real.

Published Date: September 03, 2010