Licensing Teachers Is Not A Remedy To Improving School Performance

After going through several examinations, school internship programmes and other capacity building workshops in the various Colleges of Education and Teacher Education Universities, The NTC and MOE want to tell Ghanaians that, the training is not enough so teachers have to be re-examined.

[ads1]Which body is going to set the questions for the teachers?

Is it WAEC or our very own lecturers who tested, and conferred degrees and diplomas on us?

Instead of wasting tax payers’ money on this, the NTC should focus on providing adequate and relevant teaching and learning materials and resources for schools.

They should inform Ministry of Education that, giving license to teachers may give the talk and chalk some level of professionalism but, it will not improve school performance.

That shows how myopic leadership could be. You failed to provide teachers with resources and better conditions of service which will motivate them to go extra mile to teach, you take huge sums of allowances. The teacher doesn’t have a single allowance on their pay slip. Yet, you threaten them with demotion should any fail your examination.

I’m very surprised with this license thing. Ghana needs quality reforms which will be geared towards developing students holistically.

This country is in dire need of a school curriculum that will train students to think, innovate, and solve real life problems instead of paper test problems.

The curriculum should be reviewed to conform to global job market demands instead of the paper talk model that the NTC have given us since ‘tete’.

Will licensing teachers match good remuneration and other benefits?

The NTC should use their energy on developing tailored made policies which will check proper school accountability and transparency. Asking teachers to obtain license through paper test will  give room to some GES workers to use this examination as a bait of collecting bribes before passing teachers.

The country will lose lots of funds in carrying out this examination which will yield nothing.

What happens to the non- professional teachers who have flooded the teaching profession?

Are they going to receive the same license and equal remuneration like those of us who are trained teachers?

I don’t think professional teachers in Ghana need a test to prove their worth. Instead, I propose a career development training and capacity building workshops which will help teachers to develop 21st century classroom skills.

There are many university trained teachers who have been picketing for employment since 2013. The NTC and MOE should pay attention to them and leave teachers alone. The public school teacher deserves some level of respect from the policy makers. The idea is great but that’s not what Ghanaians teachers need.

By: Kenneth Gyamerah.