The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) has identified 149 institutions that have been operating open distance learning programs across the country without proper accreditation. The Director-General of GTEC, Professor Ahmed Abdulai Jinapor, stated that these institutions have been closed down because they are “unfit for purpose.” He made this announcement during a two-day capacity-building workshop focused on the implementation strategies for Ghana’s Open and Distance Learning (ODL) policy. This workshop was attended by national quality assurance and tertiary education stakeholders in Accra.
Professor Abdulai Jinapor emphasised that distance learning is not just an alternative form of education; it is a vital component for expanding access, promoting equity, and fostering innovation in tertiary education. However, he noted that some facilities utilized for distance education do not meet the necessary approval standards.
“Unfortunately, what we are seeing is a shift from distance education to what can be termed ‘distancing education.’ This new approach, where institutions across the country attempt to replicate traditional classroom experiences, cannot truly be classified as distance education.
Currently, the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission has identified 149 distance learning centers that are deemed unfit for their intended purpose. Many of these centers are located within second-cycle institutions, which are already overstretched due to the double-track system in place.
Additionally, we see centers being established in churches, public service offices, public works departments, and even electricity companies. This situation is unacceptable, and we must not allow it to continue.”
He also emphasized that the Commission has issued a moratorium for institutions to go through the due processes to acquire authorization for running these programmes and in the right environment.
“As a commission, we’ve issued a moratorium to all these institutions to teach our students in these centers and to seek accreditation for facilities that are fit for purpose. Today, we are launching this particular policy involving quality assurance .
“What we’ve realized as a commission is that quality assurance in most of these institutions becomes overly transactional. Institutions do what they are supposed to do to please us and once we leave, then it’s business as usual. We cannot allow that,” he noted.
On his part , the Commonwealth Consultant for the Open Distance Learning Policy , Professor Olugbemiro Jegede said Ghana must come to an agreement as to what open distance learning is and guide its implementation.
“What are you doing? Which is fantastic. However, we must begin from the beginning. And that’s where we think it’s better for us, not only to listen to aspects of the policy that has been put out, we should actually come to a concerted, a negotiated agreement as to what distance-learning means.
“What does distance-learning mean? If I ask everybody, we’ll have more than 40 different answers. But we want to have a single, negotiated understanding of what distance-learning means, as well as what open-learning means. There’s a difference between distance-learning and open-learning,” he added.
Source: Publishing Desk
