The Head of Public Relations at the Ghana Education Service (GES), Daniel Fenyi, has called on the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) to reconsider its approach to informing the public about the status of tertiary institutions by publishing a comprehensive list of accredited institutions rather than focusing primarily on institutions operating without accreditation.

In a statement shared on Facebook on Wednesday, June 25, Mr Fenyi acknowledged GTEC’s efforts in releasing a list of unaccredited institutions, describing the move as useful in alerting the public.

However, he argued that a register of accredited institutions would provide a more reliable, sustainable and easily verifiable source of information for prospective students.

“Thank you for publishing the list of unaccredited institutions, but I think you should rather publish accredited institutions,” Mr Fenyi wrote, adding that accredited institutions are already recorded within GTEC’s systems and would therefore be easier to maintain and update.

According to him, relying on a list of unaccredited institutions creates challenges because such a list can never be completely exhaustive. He explained that new institutions may emerge at any time, meaning some unaccredited providers could escape public attention or appear after the publication of a warning list.

Mr Fenyi said that making an official and regularly updated register of accredited institutions available to the public would simplify the process of verification.

He noted that prospective students would then only need to check whether an institution appears on the approved list before making enrolment decisions.

“The verification burden becomes straightforward: if an institution is not on the accredited list, prospective students should treat it as unaccredited,” he stated.

The GES Public Relations Head further warned that publishing only a list of unaccredited institutions could unintentionally create a false sense of legitimacy around institutions that are not included.

He explained that members of the public may assume that any institution not mentioned on the list has been approved, even when that may not be the case.

While recognising the value of public warnings against unaccredited institutions, Mr Fenyi maintained that a stronger long-term strategy would be for GTEC to concentrate on promoting accredited institutions and making the information widely accessible.

He noted that students and parents would be better protected if they had access to a trusted official register, adding that anyone who chooses to enroll in an institution that does not appear on the accredited register would then be making that decision with clearer information and greater awareness of the risks involved.