Prof Salifu Tahiru Azeko, Director General of the National Schools Inspectorate Authority (NaSIA), has revealed that out of more than 16,000 pre-tertiary schools in the country, only 4,000 successfully renewed their operating licences between January and September this year.

The figure includes both public and private institutions.

Speaking on a recent episode of the EduTalk podcast, hosted by Emefa Apawu and aired on JoyNews, Professor Azeko described the situation as worrying.

"If you look at NaSIA's database, we have a little over 16,000 per-teriary education institutions in the country, and as of the middle of this year, we have a little over 4,000 schools that are licensed, many of them are yet to renew, so we want to encourage them to renew," he disclosed.

He attributed the low renewal rate largely to limited public awareness of NaSIA’s mandate.

"I think one of the main barriers is that most of the schools don't even understand the mandate of NaSIA, and miscommunication was a key factor," he said.

The Director-General assured that the Authority is actively addressing the issue, engaging stakeholders across schools to improve compliance and ensure that institutions meet required standards.

"We are currently doing stakeholder engagement to ensure that we let the schools understand the mandate of NaSIA, and once we do that, the other minor challenges shall be overcome."