The executive secretary of the National Accreditation Board (NAB) of Ghana, Dr Kingsley Nyarko has hinted of the board’s plans to embark on nationwide verification of the teaching staffs of the various tertiary institutions in the country.
According to him this step is eminent owing to the alarming incidence of fake certificates in the system.
”It is easier for people to get a certificate without pursuing any degree. You can sit in front of a computer and design for yourself a certificate, if nobody verifies that certificate and you’re using it to teach, you’re teaching the subject you do not have the capabilities to teach,” he decried.
Dr Nyarko believes the time is ripe to ride the system off these fake certificates especially now that the act has infiltrated the higher levels of learning and has reached a crescendo to have a bane on the quality of human resource produced in this country.
‘‘This exercise is necessary to safeguard the integrity and standard of the tertiary education system in Ghana,’’ He maintained.
He made these comments when the National Accreditation Board called on the vice chancellor of KNUST, prof Kwasi Obiri-Danso on Monday, December 3 2018.
Dr Nyarko also hinted of the board’s readiness to consider standardization of the various courses offered in the various tertiary institutions in the country, a system where all institutions will be expected to teach similar content if they offer the same course at the same level. This will ensure that products from all institutions in the country who offer similar courses has equivalent competences in the job market.
The executive secretary of NAB was worried about the rate at which individuals who are awarded honorary titles are abusing these titles for their self-aggrandizement at the expense of people who actually went through the requisite education and training to deserve these titles.
”Beneficiaries of honorary titles are expected to be recognised as such only when they are in the institution that award them such honours,”he said.
The media, Dr Nyarko believes is the worst culprit when it comes to promoting the use of honorary titles and should therefore help in the fight against fake titles.