Easy & cheap availability of fake project reports & research thesis eating into country’s foundations

Few days back I got an email in my inbox which shocked me.

Anything that is the key outcome of course or degree completion of any student was up for grabs in pennies. Then I did a little research on this. I will advise you to do a Google search on Buying a Ph.D. and Master Thesis; and the results will be eye opening.

You will see that there are shops operating in different parts of the country openly quoting rates of providing you the ready-made reports, assignments and theses.

When I further discussed the issue with some of my acquaintances, the problem looked more acute. I came to know, that such shops are there near every big institution in the country. The rates vary depending upon the location and clientele. I tried to get some data from few institutions and I was blown away by the findings. It seems that 90% of the students in 90% higher education institutions in the country are involved at some level. And the irony is that they don't even feel that they are cheating themselves and are playing with their own careers.

The key skills that they are expected to imbibe through these major pieces of assessment are not acquired at all. As a nation, we have got a major challenge to address. I will say that this is an even bigger problem than corruption and crime.

It is emerging as a big challenge for the intellectual capital of our country. The destiny of the nations depends on the innovations by young generations. We will be left behind in the comity of nations, if we don’t take it as a serious issue. No leaders, political parties or policy makers look concerned about this.

Are we giving our nation to be led by such a generation of people who are handicapped as they have acquired the degrees with the clutches of ready-made Thesis, Project reports bought from these shops? If you will further go deeper, you will get carried away by the severe proportion of the problem we are in. In few institutions, even the people from teaching fraternity are part of this packet, where they have their commissions based on how many students from their class use such services of outsiders to provide the research or academic material.

The problem further expands, as it has become a headache for the genuine researchers also. When they search online, they see that their research work/Thesis is being claimed by multiple people. This is due to the fact these fake shops download different material available online and prepare the new one with slight modification after copy-paste operations. I have read stories of good researchers going through this trauma where they need to explain that how their publications or Thesis are being claimed by someone else.

I don't know whether there is a legal remedy to this situation. But I surely know, that these practices are eating into the country's foundations. I can only request our youngsters that this is a honey trap and by doing this they are losing the immense joy that they will feel, if they will do some original work themselves. Many students are not even aware that they are doing something unethical. An awareness drive by student clubs in the institutions can be excellent way to make the students known about the pitfalls of such things.

It will be wrong, if we put all the blame on the students. Significant fraction of the blame goes to teachers also. Students don't see a subject expert in their teacher and are never encouraged for doing innovative work. So, I will also request the teaching fraternity to come up as a role model, so that the students are motivated to follow them. Institutions have to a role to play as well; to have the policy and framework in place to desist the students from such practices. It is time that our education leaders and well-wishers of the country start speaking about this menace.

With further investigation, you can find that this practice is not limited to our country. This issue is present all over the world. However, the intensity and proportion of the problem varies from place to place. In many countries, the services are being offered in a sophisticated manner in the garb of editorial help, language editors, Document formatting etc. Many known and popular publishers are doing this with hidden agendas. If you take some of these services, then the chances of success of your research manuscript being reviewed increase.

#IndiaStudents #StudentVoices

Disclaimer:This article was originally published in Breaking Shackles, Times of India Blog - https://blogs.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/breaking-shackles/easy-and-cheap-availability-of-fake-project-reports-research-thesis-eating-into-countrys-foundations/