Doubts over implementation of teacher licensing policy

An education consultant has advised that a report that teachers in Ghana will be licensed to teach only after passing an examination should be treated with the contempt it deserves.

Dr Prince Armah says the National Teachers Council was not conclusive on the modalities of licensing teachers in Ghana and he is of the strong conviction that examination cannot be the single determiner of qualifying a person to teach.

He made these remarks on TV3’s Midday Live on Saturday via a Skype interview with presenter Esi Benewaa Nyame.

The Executive Director of the Institute of Education Studies said the proposal has been twisted in the media landscape.

“There is a lot of misinformation out there.” But the first hint of the proposal was made by Dr Augustine Tawiah, the soon-to-be-made Executive Secretary of the National Teachers Council.

Addressing teachers at the end of a five-day training workshop in Accra, Dr Tawiah disclosed that in the new scheme of licensing, teachers who apply for renewal “must prove they have personally undertaken some professional upgrading of knowledge and skills”.

He also announced that there will be an extensive education campaign ahead of the takeoff of the Teachers’ Licensing Policy next year.

The decision has received heavy criticism from the teaching public including teacher unions such as the Coalition of Concerned Teachers-Ghana (CCT-G). But Dr Armah said “there has not been any such policy document”.

He, nonetheless, said he will join any action to resist the policy if it is implemented “because that examination will not be a single determiner to qualifying someone to teach”. “And I doubt if the Council will implement it.”