Teachers run to court to stop licensure exam

A group of trainee teachers called the Friends of Colleges of Education, has headed to the Supreme Court to seek an injunction on the Teacher Licensure Exams taking place today, Monday, 10 September 2018.

This was disclosed by the president of the group, Emmanuel Owusu in an interview with Moro Awudu on the Executive Breakfast Show (EBS) on Class91.3FM on Monday.

“This morning, as I’m talking to you, our lawyer is on his way going to the Supreme Court to seek for an injunction on this examination…so, tomorrow I don’t think we’ll continue writing this examination,” he stated.

The candidates will write Essential Professional Skills paper on Monday to be followed by Literacy and Numeracy on Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively.

A flag bearer-hopeful of the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC), Elikpilm Agbemava, who is also the lawyer for the group, is filing the suit on their behalf.

Meanwhile, in his individual capacity, Mr Agbemava has taken a similar action at the Supreme Court.

Mr Agbemava is seeking a declaration that; on a true and proper interpretation of Article 190 (1) (a) and (3) of the 1992 Constitution, the creation of the National Teaching Council, National Inspectorate Board and the National Council for Curriculum Assessment, is unconstitutional.

The legal practitioner is also seeking a declaration that; on a true and proper interpretation of Art 17 and 296 of the 1992 Constitution, the guidelines and procedures for the licensure examination for only newly-trained teachers, is discriminatory, arbitrary, an abuse of power and inconsistent with the 1992 Constitution and, therefore, unconstitutional.

He is further seeking a declaration that a “trained, qualified teacher” is a person who has sat and passed all the modules, contents and methodology of the various courses of the colleges of education as established by the Colleges of Education Act, 2012 and certified by the University of Cape Coast or the National Accreditation Board National Teaching Council’s and “registered” by the Ghana Education Service as a person qualified to teach at the pre-tertiary level and not by virtue of any licensure exam supposedly organised by the National Teaching Council established under the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778), as amended.