Attestation needed for all educational certificates in Oman

Muscat: All educational certificates need to be attested by the Ministry of Higher Education before someone joins a job in the private or public sector in Oman, the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) said on Monday.
The rule applies to expatriates working in Oman, as well as Omanis, who have got their certificates from abroad.
Speaking to the Times of Oman, a MoHE official said they were forced to issue a reminder as a large number of companies have tended to flout this rule.
“Some companies do not even refer to the Ministry before employing any person,” he said.
The reminder comes at a time when the MoHE, in cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, has discovered 1,250 fake certificates, including 1,117 certificates issued with fake stamps and 133 with fake qualifications.
This action was taken according to Article 14 of the Attestation Regulations, which state that any certificates issued by Higher Education Institutes outside Oman are not considered unless they are attested by the MoHE.
The Ministry has taken the issue of forged certificates very seriously and informed the Ministry of Manpower, the Ministry of Civil Services, to take the required action against those whose certificates were found to be forged.
The Ministry has also filed legal cases with the Public Prosecution against those having fake certificates.
Earlier, the Ministry had found several fake educational certificates and these were ostensibly issued by several institutions in the Middle East and Asia.
To prevent students from falling victims to such fake certificates racket, the Ministry has also cautioned Omani students travelling abroad.
Effective April 1, Omani students, who are pursuing their studies in India, have been advised to choose only those colleges and universities, which have been approved by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in India.
The UGC is a statutory body set up by the Indian government under the Ministry of Human Resource Development, and is charged with coordination, determination and maintenance of standards of higher education.