Youths told not to use fake documents in a quest to gain employment

The Centre for Young Leaders in Africa (CYLA), has urged young people in the country not to fall prey to using illegal documents in their quest to gain employment.

Commenting on the revelations by the Teaching Council of Zambia that 498 Teachers were discovered to have forged their professional qualifications to gain employment Jones Mulunga executive director of CYLA said the development was sad and retrogressive.

“The incident of forging credentials to gain employment to a level were some are now serving in senior portfolios in government and private institutions is sad and retrogressive to the country’s positive image in the education sector.

“We are not yet aware of the age groups of those found wanting but we must make it categorical that if young people are among them, is a sorry sight, which should not be,” he said.

Mr Mulunga said young people should avoid being found in such situations as there is no great pride in forging documents and that young people should work hard as opposed to using trickery.

“CYLA would like to urge young people to work hard and obtain genuine qualifications as opposed to forgery in a bid to get employed. Young people should understand that there is no great pride as that of working hard and enjoying the fruits of one’s labour.

“It must also be born in the mind of young people that life is all about fighting for what is right and not use of tricks to quickly succeed.

“In as much as we know that unemployment is high among youths, young people should not take advantage to make use of wrong ways to find employment as doing so has consequences which most times are irreversible and tough to handle,” he said

He has since urged youths to be determined and focused in achieving there goals.

“It is hence our hope that as a country we have a youth that will be focused, determined and resilient in achieving goals unlike dubiously obtaining credentials or waiting to be favoured for one to succeed.

“We urge our fellow young people to stay away from malpractice at any level or field but persevere in shaping their careers,” he said.