E-Certificates

As part of the ongoing exercise to clean up higher education, HRD minister Kapil Sibal said the ministry was planning to create a national database of academic qualifications in electronic format which would authenticate and reissue certificates. The ministry is planning to bring a bill for the creation of a depository which would store certificates issued by school boards and universities in an electronic format for any future use. “Forged certificate is a major problem. There is no verification process with the employer. The credibility of our institutes come under question. We are contemplating establishing a national database in an electronic format by an identified registered depository,’’ Sibal said. All institutes, including school boards, IITs, NITs, polytechnics and state school boards will have direct linkages to the depository. The certificates could be stored in electronic format. “It would be a secured depository. Anybody who loses his certificate can get an authentic one. Anybody who wants to verify the authenticity of a certificate can do so by contacting the depository,’’ Sibal said. For verification or reissue of certificates, the applicant would have to pay a fee to get the service. The depository could be in place from 2011. The government has set up a task force headed by IIT-Kanpur director Sanjay Dhande to prepare a roadmap for its implementation. As per the plan, anybody who has passed out before 2011 can also update his certificates in that depository. The technology-based solution would ensure security and authenticity and enable online verification and easy retrieval of academic qualifications.