{"id":101777,"date":"2025-11-03T15:04:45","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:04:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=101777"},"modified":"2025-11-03T15:04:45","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T15:04:45","slug":"haruna-iddrisu-announces-plan-to-amend-law-on-university-charter-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=101777","title":{"rendered":"Haruna Iddrisu announces plan to amend law on University charter deadline"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class='booster-block booster-read-block'>\n                <div class=\"twp-read-time\">\n                \t<i class=\"booster-icon twp-clock\"><\/i> <span>Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 57 Second                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div><div>\n<p>The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has announced plans to amend the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) Act, 2020 (Act 1023), to extend the deadline for tertiary institutions to acquire a Presidential Charter.<\/p>\n<p>The move comes after GTEC in February 2024 gave a six-month ultimatum to all universities to get chartered or face possible closure \u2014 a directive that sparked intense public debate over the quality of certificates awarded by unchartered institutions and the high cost of meeting the requirements.<\/p>\n<p>Appearing before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament, Mr Iddrisu said the government is reviewing the policy to avoid shutting down universities that serve thousands of Ghanaian students.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cGovernment is reviewing that position and there may be a policy review of it to extend the moratorium but certainly not to put in that not every qualified Ghanaian student has the opportunity to be admitted into a public tertiary institution,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/HARUNA-CHARTER-1.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Minister cautioned that applying the law too rigidly could deny many qualified Ghanaians access to higher education.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThey will be in denial if we were to be high-handed in terms of the regulation, but that\u2019s what the law requires them to do. So I may seek a review of the law in order that we extend the period of the charter and then learn from best practice \u2014 what happens in Australia, what happens in the US or UK \u2014 how are those private institutions able to cope with the public tertiary institutions,\u201d he told the Committee.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Mr Iddrisu expressed satisfaction that more young Ghanaians are accessing higher education, describing it as a positive trend for national development.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cThe joy is that in Ghana, more Ghanaian students of that age are accessing higher education, and that\u2019s good for our country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Addressing concerns about GTEC\u2019s enforcement of the law, the Education Minister said the Commission\u2019s actions are in line with its mandate but assured that the matter is being carefully reviewed.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/HARUNA-TITLES-2.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cChairman, this matter is being thoroughly looked at. The Director-General of GTEC is acting in accordance with his mandate and the law, and recognises that whoever is affected by it will be pronounced as he is doing. I\u2019m awaiting a report from the GTEC Council for a briefing. Then I\u2019ll come back to this House if you so desire,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The Minister further acknowledged the operational and financial challenges facing some private and faith-based universities in meeting the charter requirements.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-audio\"><audio controls src=\"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/HARUNA-AMEND-2.mp3\"><\/audio><\/figure>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cIf, for instance, you are providing higher education in biology and you don\u2019t have a laboratory or chemistry or physics, then GTEC is not likely to support you to undertake that activity,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo, in the law which was passed by Parliament, apart from the students who will be affected, there are also Ghanaians in the private sector many of them church-related institutions, whether it\u2019s the Catholic Church, the Pentecostal Church, or the Presbyterian Church, providing higher education, but not to perpetuate it. It won\u2019t be forever and ever.<\/p>\n<p>But at least let\u2019s give them some time, because the challenge is, how many students are there with a public tertiary education?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>He emphasised that while academic standards will not be compromised, the government will allow universities more time and flexibility to justify their investments and the quality of training they provide.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cStandards will not be compromised, but I think that we should allow them time and space to justify their expenditure and the training they are providing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n        <div class=\"booster-block booster-reactions-block\">\n            <div class=\"twp-reactions-icons\">\n                \n                <div class=\"twp-reacts-wrap\">\n                    <a react-data=\"be-react-1\" post-id=\"101777\" class=\"be-face-icons un-reacted\" 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%<\/span>\n                                            <\/div>\n                <\/div>\n\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.myjoyonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/image-197-150x150.png\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"Haruna Iddrisu announces plan to amend law on University charter deadline\" title=\"Haruna Iddrisu announces plan to amend law on University charter deadline\">The Minister for Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has announced plans to amend the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC) Act, 2020 (Act 1023) to extend the deadline for tertiary institutions, to acquire a Presidential Charter.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_2277560469115098_106292521332774":"","twitter_aToxNzczMzI3Njk4OTg4ODUxMjAxOw==_1773327698988851200":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11812,491,3282,11813,1883,117,10,9,11143],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-101777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-charter","category-education","category-gtec","category-haruna-iddirsu","category-national","category-news","category-politics","category-popular","category-universities"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=101777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/101777\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=101777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=101777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=101777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}