At least 12,000 teachers in China’s Hubei Province received “fake” diplomas which are not recognized nationwide, but only within Hubei Province.

Li Ping (an alias) began a teaching job in Shenzhen in May, only to lose it when her employer was unable to verify her degree on the Web site designated for such inquiries by the Ministry of Education (MOE), according to a Nov. 19 report by state-run People’s Daily.

Li is only one of a total of 12,000 primary and middle school teachers in Hubei who paid 4, 000 yuan (approximately US$590) to take the same online diploma program, a program provided by the college between 2000 and 2002 and sponsored by the Hubei Provincial Department of Education.

“We trusted the assessment procedure provided by the Provincial Department of Education,” Li said. “We never thought that we were being cheated.” College officials had promised that those who completed the two-year courses would earn diplomas that would be recognized, according to a China Daily report.

Li tried to verify her diploma by taking it to the China Higher-Education Student Information and Career Center affiliated with MOE. She did not get good news. Officials explained that the program was not certified at the time she completed it.

Since then, the college upgraded its status and became Hubei University of Education (HUE) in 2007, but this is of no help to Li.

Li also talked with an anonymous official at the Continuing Education Department of HUE, according to the China Daily report. “Our college only provided the online program for three years,” he said. “The program was initially authorized by the provincial education bureau, but was discontinued for policy reasons. The diplomas are authentic within Hubei, but we don’t know why they could not pass the verification from the MOE.”

In an interview with New Tang Dynasty Television (NTDTV), the vice president of the Continuing Education Department said: “The event concerning [Li Ping] happened in 2003. I’m not clear on all the details because I was not there at that time.”

The publicity department of the university offered a similar comment: “Our directors are still discussing the incident, so we are not sure exactly what happened.”

An NTDTV reporter asked MOE about the diploma verification number on Li’s diploma which was provided by the college. “I’ve never heard of such a number,” the staff at MOE replied. “We don’t have such numbers on the diplomas offered by MOE.”

MOE advised the victims to report the situation to the police.

In his article “Who Is Responsible for the Fake Diplomas?” published on China Consumer Journal, Yang Haidong directed responsibility for the incident to the Education Bureau of Hubei Province. “The fake diploma incident not only harmed more than 10,000 teachers in Hubei Province, but the future of our education system,” Yang wrote. He said that China’s higher education system no longer functions to provide knowledge and enhance ability. Instead, the focus has shifted to obtaining diplomas.

“This fake diploma incident is only one of many chaotic phenomena,” he concluded. Our continuing education courses are becoming a sort of ‘diploma industry.’ This may satisfy the interests of some people, but does nothing for the wider interests of society to educate students.”