By Devina Samaroo
The agency responsible for monitoring the standards of tertiary educational institutions is cautioning students against signing up for programmes at schools that are not registered and recognised.
In recent times, Guyana has seen a proliferation of private educational institutions being set up to offer programmes at all levels.
In some cases, not all of these schools are recognised and there are reports of students spending significant sums of money for programmes sometimes considered scams.
The National Accreditation Council (NAC) under the Ministry of Education, which is responsible registering and accrediting post-secondary educational institutions, is urging students to check with the agency to ensure the programme they want to pursue is being offered at a registered or accredited institution.
NAC’s Executive Director, Deborah Jake told News Room during an interview on Wednesday that there are many instances where students would invest heavily in an educational programme only to realise that the certificate is not registered or accredited by the Council.
There is a difference between being accredited and being registered. According to the Jake, when an institution is registered, it means that the school would have passed all the quality control tests necessary to legally operate in the country.
“When you would have registered and we would have assessed your system, we would have to see that you have enough money to offer the programme, your facilities are up to date, you have the staff with the right qualifications of the programme you want to offer, your teaching-learning process is up to date, you have your examination and review system in place, we must see that you have enough money and you are not just depending on fees to run the institution. When we are satisfied that you have everything in place, we give you the approval,” she explained.
Accreditation, on the other hand, is the next step after registration, whereby the institution is further evaluated to determine if the standard of education offered has increased. The Executive Director, however, explained that students should not panic if the institution they are attending is only registered.
“Registration is the critical one, that is the one you have to have before you can operate and that the programme is safe but the accreditation gives you the international edge,” Jake explained.
If a student attends a post-secondary or tertiary institution that is not registered with the Council, the certificates, diplomas, or degrees awarded will not be recognised. This means that if the student wants to use this certificate, diploma, or degree to obtain a job or for further study, he/she would not receive recognition for the programme.
Students are therefore urged to be aware of persons who are setting up schools/institutions without the approval of the Council.
Further, when Guyanese students migrate to other countries and try to use the certificates obtained in Guyana for further education, the administrators of the institutions that they seek to attend, would make contact with the Council to verify the authenticity of their qualifications.
Specific questions are asked about the institutions and the value of their qualifications. If the administrators are not convinced that the institutions and their programmes were quality assured, they do not accept the qualifications.
