The Executive Secretary of the National Accreditation Board (NAB), Mr Kwame Dattey, has said that reports reaching the board indicate that some private tertiary institutions are admitting students whose grades are beyond the cut-off point of 24, the grade required for admission into tertiary institutions. He said the board had asked private tertiary institutions to furnish the office of NAB with a list of all students they had admitted and the basis for their admission or indicate the grades and courses to be taken. Mr Dattey indicated that the board had been receiving reports about some institutions failing to meet the requirements. He said NAB had also directed the schools to submit to it, lists of students about to graduate together with their results before awarding them their certificates. The Executive Secretary explained that the board would examine those lists to ascertain whether or not they met the necessary requirements. He said the objective of the board was to protect and maintain the integrity of Ghanaian certificates and regretted that the board had received some reports from industrial and commercial organisations on the credibility of certificates from some Ghanaian institutions. The Executive Secretary said the situation was worrying and needed the co-operation of all to help build a good image for the institutions. He added that it would be better for those schools to have fewer students than to take on more students, disregarding their quality and the regulations of the board. Mr. Dattey said NAB had drawn up a programme under which it would pay unannounced visits to tertiary institutions to check on those schools which were flouting the board's regulations and establish those who were operating according to laid-down regulations. He said the board could either revoke the accreditation of an institution, or close it down. When the accreditation is revoked, the particular institution will be given a period to put in place corrective measures after which an inspection would be conducted to ascertain whether or not the institution had satisfied the requirements, he explained. If the institution failed to meet the requirements, the board would not allow it to admit fresh students. Continuing students, however, would be allowed to continue, he said. The executive director warned that where an institution had failed woefully to meet requirements, or where it had established that the situation was a bad case, the board would transfer the students to another institution. He said some of the institutions operated under deceitful conditions and that a school had been closed down for deceit, while another had been suspended from admitting fresh students. Mr Dattey said the board needed to strengthen its monitoring mechanisms, and pointed out that staffing was a major problem facing it, as well as the acquisition of equipment. Mr Dattey said efforts to expand the facilities of the board were awaiting approval, while the Ghana Education Trust Fund (GETFund) was offering fellowship for the training of the board's staff. The Dutch government, he noted was also offering assistance to the board regarding staff training and the purchase of equipment. The National Accreditation Board (NAB) Act 2007, Act 744 stipulates among others that "Where the Board is satisfied; (a) that the location and operations of an institution are detrimental to the physical or moral welfare of the students who attend it; (b) the institution is operating below the minimum standard acceptable to the board, or (c) the continued existence of the institution is against the public interest, the board shall formally notify the institution to rectify the deficiencies within a period not exceeding six months." "If at the end of the period the rectification has not been effected, the board shall inform the minister who shall notify the proprietor to close down the institution within a specified time." Where the proprietor fails to close down the institution as provided for in sub-section (2), the Board shall close down the institution. Source: Daily Graphic