Private tertiary institutions are qualified for national service- NSS

Mr. Vincent Senam Kuagbenu, Executive Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS) on Thursday asked the authorities of private tertiary institutions to submit the names of their final year students for national service.

In a statement issued in Accra, he said it had come to the attention of the Ghana National Service Scheme that some private tertiary institutions were extorting monies from final year students purporting to be NSS registration fees before submitting their names for national service.

Others are withholding NSS pin codes issued by the Scheme to final year students, as a bait to retrieve outstanding schools fees, he said.

“Management takes a serious view of these developments and wishes to register its strongest disapproval,” Mr. Kuagbenu said.

He stressed that payment of registration or school fees by students was not a requirement for issuance of NSS pin codes to register for national service.

“It is therefore illegal and fraudulent for any tertiary institution(s) to demand any form of registration fees from final year students, or to withhold student’s NSS pin codes because they default in school fees.”

The NSS advised authorities of such institutions to desist from such acts, and where money had already been collected, they should refund them immediately.

It asked final year students who might have fallen victims to any such unorthodox means by their school authorities, to report to any of the Scheme’s Regional Secretariats or to the Head Office of the body in Accra.**