High school diplomas go on the blockchain. This takes place in an Italian school, the “M. Ciliberto – A. Lucifero” high school in Crotone which, with the collaboration of the Milanese company Blockchain Italia.io, takes an important step forward towards digitisation and innovation.
The project was born with the purpose to record diplomas on the blockchain, taking advantage of the immutability, recognition and longevity of the data. This is a major setback to the circulation of fake diplomas.
The recording of a certificate on the blockchain guarantees transparency because it allows schools, universities and companies to verify that the qualification is actually the one obtained and guaranteed by the institute. The document will be uploaded directly by the school, which will use special digital signatures with the use of asymmetric encryption.
Pietro Azzara, CEO of Blockchain Italy, comments:
“We are happy to have carried out the first case of notarisation for high school diplomas in Italy. The standardisation of this procedure could create more transparency and clarity within the Italian System, ensuring the enhancement of skills and helping companies and students to create synergistic relationships. We hope that the ‘M. Ciliberto – A. Lucifero sets an example for other high schools and universities, free from the fear of innovation”.
Girolamo Arcuri, School Director of the forerunner Institute, adds:
“I believe that the high school ‘M. Ciliberto – A. Lucifero’ of Crotone has pursued the strategic interests of the public administration, through a digital best practice. Adopting a networked archival surplus-value, thanks to which to store and retrieve with extreme simplicity legally unquestionable certificates. I would like to thank the school board and the board of teachers for having enthusiastically approved the proposal and Prof. Giovanni Spina for his commitment to relations with the company. We are looking forward to new and fruitful future collaborations”.
The project is the first of its kind in Italy involving a high school. At the moment a similar attempt has been made by the University of Cagliari to validate the degree certificates. Since 2018, the university has been using the blockchain of Ethereum to issue degree certificates that are immutable, tamper-proof and forgery-free. Also in this case, the aim is to combat fake degree certificates and offer a transparent tool for verifying the qualifications.
The cases of the Institute of Crotone and the University of Cagliari show how Italy is trying to make progress in the implementation of blockchain technology, applying it to the most diverse areas, starting from school and the educational sector.
