HEC to introduce e-verification of documents.

Byline: Imran Gabol

LAHORE -- The Higher Education Commission (HEC) is going to introduce e-verification service of educational documents to end forgery and to make the process of attestation of various documents hassle free.

A task force on Civil Service Reforms and Austerity and Restructuring, led by Prime Minister's Adviser Dr Ishrat Hussain, at a recent meeting advised the HEC to direct all degree awarding institutions under its supervision to immediately launch e-verification services for their issued educational documents.

It directed the HEC to maintain and supervise an online system where all degree awarding institutions automatically submit copies of issued degrees online as soon as the degrees are awarded.

HEC Chairman Tariq Banuri told Dawn he was not aware of the direction from Task Force but they had started the registration process of the documents few months ago.

He said e-verification was not possible without reliable registration and it would be in place soon.

Punjab Information Technology Board General Manager (IT) Burhan Rasool, a member of the Task Force on Civil Service Reforms and Austerity and Restructuring, made a detailed presentation on online verification and e-attestation of degrees of various boards and universities of the country.

He elaborated that on one hand forgery of academic documents was becoming rampant and on the other hand holders of genuine educational documents were facing a lot of problems during the attestation of various documents.

He proposed an online database that maintain the records of all educational documents issued by various degree and academic qualification issuing authorities.

Mr Rasool said it became a necessity to have verified and attested documents at your disposal 24/7 due to changing trends in the professional world, locally and internationally.He said it was becoming essential to digitize the verification of educational and professional degrees to ensure transparency and authenticity...