Let’s continue to jaw-jaw over teacher licensing policy

The National Teaching Council (NTC) of the Ministry of Education announced last week that teachers would now have to pass a special examination before being granted licences to teach.  

The move, which is in accordance with the new Teachers Licensing Policy under the Education Act 778 (2008), is to enforce discipline and eliminate non-performing teachers from the system.

The announcement was made by the Executive Secretary-designate of the NTC, Dr Augustine Tawiah, at the closing ceremony of a five-day intensive in-service training workshop for teachers in the Greater Accra Region in Accra.

He said beginning next January, the ministry would undertake the re-registration of all teachers in the country to facilitate the issuance of the licences.

The renewal of the licences would be based on professional competence and development of teachers and all teachers would be expected to renew their licences within three to five years.

The announcement has been met with mixed reactions. While some people are in support of the policy, others are kicking against it, especially teacher unions, saying it is not necessary.

Some teachers even see it as a political move to remove some teachers from the classrooms to make room for party cronies.

One teacher association, the National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), for instance, is unhappy with the new policy because it believes it has not been well thought through.

The association wants to know the procedure for withdrawing the licence of a teacher and the appeal procedure, for instance.  It is also concerned over job security.

Anorther school of thought holds the view that it is not acceptable to blame only teachers for the non-performance of pupils and students. It is the view of such people that teachers have already passed through prescribed courses and are thus qualified to be employed by the Ghana Education Service (GES) as professional teachers, making the licensing unnecessary.

The Daily Graphic is of the view that even though the policy is well intentioned, it must be looked at again because there are other ingredients in the educational mix that ensure that students perform to satisfaction.

For instance, there must be adequate teaching and learning materials, effective supervision, refresher courses for teachers and the rotation of teachers in such a way that they do not become too comfortable in some schools in a manner that makes them see their work as “ business as usual”, with no prompting to renew their zeal to teach effectively.

As it stands, the Daily Graphic thinks that  the policy seems to be creating another problem in an effort to resolve a problem.

But teachers must also consider the fact that life is not static and so they must embrace change. If other professionals are being licensed, why not teachers? 

Nonetheless, if the idea is to sanitise the system to ensure effective teaching, then the opportunity must be given to stakeholders to air their views, with the purpose of making the policy acceptable. Whatever the outcome, the ministry must  ensure that the right teachers teach our children.

More importantly, it must make sure that it is not just creating an avenue for some people to make money through this licensing policy.

The Daily Graphic suggests that plans must be set in motion to achieve stakeholder buy-in in order for the policy to promote quality education. That is why we believe further dialogue on the policy is the way to go.