The National Service Authority (NSA) has revealed that 3,500 graduates risk not participating in the 2025/2026 national service programme over invalid accreditation by 22 tertiary institutions.

According to the Authority in a press release dated Tuesday, June 17, it received 135,990 submissions for this year from 122 tertiary institutions; however, "3,597 of these submissions, representing graduates from 22 institutions, have not been processed, as those institutions are currently not accredited and remain unknown to the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC)."

The Authority has therefore issued a 30-day ultimatum to the tertiary institutions that are yet to renew their licenses.

NSA cautioned that unaccredited tertiary institutions that miss the deadline to regularize their status will negatively impact their students’ chances of participating in the 2025/26 national service.

“This is part of broad efforts to clean up the national service system and safeguard public resources," the NSA said in a statement.

The NSA is yet to give details of the tertiary institutions that currently possess expired accreditation.

The Ghana Tertiary Education Commission has been working to ensure that all tertiary institutions in the country meet the required accreditation standards.

In 2024, it announced a temporary halt to the processing of new accreditation applications for academic programs in all public universities, including technical universities.

Meanwhile, PIN codes for 132,393 prospective national service personnel ahead of the 2025/2026 service year have been released.

The NSA indicated that this year’s intake dropped by an average of 26% compared to the past three years, with a 36% decline in 2022/2023.

908 PIN codes for private applicants are currently awaiting final verification from the related institutions to be released.

In a related event, Deputy Director of the National Service Scheme (NSS), Fuseini Donkor, has explained that personnel under the scheme will undergo a military orientation programme, not full military training.

This is due to a newly introduced module by the incumbent government aimed at building discipline and preparedness among Ghanaian youth.