Registrar at the National Teaching Council, Dr Christian Addai-Poku, has disclosed that in the past years, prospective teachers who failed the Ghana Teacher Examination (GTLE) were allowed to teach.
Speaking on Asempa FM’s Ekosii Sen, he said this was because the country needed more teachers at the time.
“In the past, those who failed the licensure exams were allowed to teach which we refer to as NAGRAT ‘nagoode’, experienced teachers know about this. This was because at the time the country needed more teachers,” he explained.
Dr Poku stated that focusing on quantity rather than quality has not been helpful so the council decided to regulate the system to get the right quality of teachers in schools.
“Currently we have introduced the National Teacher Education Curriculum framework and we have decentralized the teacher education for any university to run the course. After training the students, the council then tests them to make sure the curriculum was used, and then we sieve those who met the standards,” he said.
A total of 6,481 out of 7,728 prospective teachers who sat again for the licensure exams last month failed.
Only 1,277 representing a percentage of 16.5 percent of the candidates passed.
Dr Addai-Poku indicated that all the candidates had sat for the exam at least twice, with some sitting as many as nine times.
He explained that those affected had one more chance to re-write the exam at the latter part of the year before its format and content changed.
According to him, only candidates with degrees would have a last chance to resit the exam.
The NTC is mandated by Section 9 of the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) to improve the professional standing and status of teachers, license and register teachers in Ghana.
The first-ever teacher licensure examination was written in September 2018.
The purpose of the examination is to enable qualified teachers to acquire a professional licence and also attract excellent young graduates from the universities and colleges of education who have the required professional knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary to deliver effectively in schools
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