The Malaysian Ministry of Education has introduced a blockchain platform to tackle the rampant use of fake educational certificates.
The Malaysian Ministry of Education has introduced E-Skrol, an application built on the NEM blockchain to deal with the issue of certificate fraud through the use of blockchain technology.
In a Sept. 19 article by local news agency Bernama, the Ministry of Education in Malaysia announced that the previously introduced E-Skrol blockchain application, which makes it possible to verify the authenticity of Maylaysian educational degrees, will now be available for all public and private universities in the country.
The E-Skrol application aims to tackle the increasing cases of fake educational degrees in Malaysia, which can be obtained online from so-called diploma mills.
Education Minister Dr. Maszlee Malik stated that the issue of degree forgeries has had a negative impact on the Malaysian higher education system, adding:
“There are people who latch on to the reputation of Malaysian public universities to improve their profiles by displaying fake certificates. I believe the blockchain application can change this situation.’
The education minister added that now anyone, anywhere in the world can verify the data of any graduate of a Malaysian university, including their name, full transcript, graduation date and class of degree through the application and scanning the QR code, which are printed on the certificates.
Malaysia aims to attract blockchain professionals
In June, Cointelegraph reported that the Malaysian government launched a work visa program targeting blockchain-capable talents from all over the world. The program aims to attract foreign professionals who will have the right to stay in the country for up to 12 months to provide blockchain-related services or undergo training at a Malaysian company.
MDEC growth ecosystem development vice-president Norhizam Abdul Kadir said, “We will be kicking it off starting with blockchain jobs. The number of visas to be issued depends on the projects that will be run by blockchain companies in Malaysia.”
