High rates of unemployment all over the world, led many individuals especially young people, into the business of academic writing. As a result, academic writing has grown in the last ten (10) years, to become a source of income for a lot of people in Kenya and all over the globe. That income is going to receive a huge dent soon.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), the american company know for its worldwide online payments system PayPal, will begin contacting essay writing firms, issuing notices to them, stating that they should move their businesses elsewhere.
A spokesperson from the payment firm told BBC; “PayPal is working with businesses associated with essay-writing services to ensure our platform is not used to facilitate deceptive and fraudulent practices in education,”.
The spokesperson added that “PayPal will continue to diligently review and take appropriate action on accounts found to facilitate cheating that undermines academic integrity.”.
This move which is a huge blow to academic writers worldwide, follows the same path of renewed interest by the UK’s Educational Secretary, Damian Hinds, who says that the practice of paying for paper writing is “unethical for these companies to profit from this dishonest business.”
Due to essay companies relying heavily on platforms like PayPal to process payments for their orders, the company’s shocking decison, is seen as a way to significantly hamper their operations.
The Secretary; Damian Hinds, also stated that the Quality Assurance Agency (QAA) had found 17,000 academic offences in 2016 and is still unsure about just how many cases had gone undetected, adding that “Sadly, there have always been some people who opt for the easy way, and the Internet has seen a black market in essay-writing services spring up,”.
Recent reports by British media companies revealed that Kenya is a major spot for academic cheating. Most unemployed Kenyans work for essay writing companies where they create academic papers for university students in the UK and the United States (US) as well. The reports also state that academic/essay writing, is a multi-million dollar industry with very many players involved. Doctorate students in the United Kingdom (UK), pay as much as £2,000 (264,000 Kenyan Shillings) to £6,000 (792,000 Kenyan Shillings) to essay writing firms for their dissertations.
This ban by Pay Pal could significantly cripple the industry, delivering a devastating blow to the numerous youths in Kenya, who rely on academic writing outsourcing jobs for their daily needs. It also means that in addition to the decline in business, essay firms will have to search for alternative platforms to process their payments.
Although this decision by PayPal is an entirely isolated move by the company, it is understood that the British government will be piling pressure on other payment platforms to withdraw their services as well.
PayPal says “This is a business that operates across national borders so there will need to be an international response,”.
While universities in Kenya prohibit and frown on academic cheating, there is however no law preventing Kenyans from engaging in the practice for students in other countries. This has led to the country (Kenya) being listed by the UK as the leading black market for its students to engage in academic cheating.
