The National Teaching Council of the Ministry of Education (MoE) said from next year teachers would need to meet both certification and licensing requirements by the service to be able to teach.

The Council is to license and give certificates to all teachers, enforce policy on ethical and professional standards and advise the sector ministry accordingly.

Teachers would be issued a 14-digit identity card to be renewed at regular intervals, said Dr Augustine Tawiah, Executive Secretary of the National Teaching Council of the Ministry of Education on Friday.

Dr Tawiah made the announcement at the closing session of Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) and Canadian Teachers’ Federation (CTF) collaborative in-service workshop for teachers in the Greater Accra Region.

He said the state was making conscious efforts to improve access to education by building schools and providing other infrastructural needs, professional development of teachers remained paramount.

“It is amazing what GNAT is doing in the country to improve professional development of teachers,” he said, adding “every teacher will have to go through professional development in order to get his or her license renewed.”

The GNAT/CTF collaboration workshop, an initiative started over 20 years ago, witnessed 297 teachers participating comprising 168 females and 129 males with resource persons from Canada and Ghana.

The training is aimed at updating teachers’ knowledge and skills in the light of new development in teaching techniques and educational research, empower teachers to develop innovations in teaching practice as well as help weaker teachers to become more effective.