David Ofori Acheampong, General Secretary of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), has appealed to the National Teaching Council (NTC) of the Ministry of Education to be cautious in the implementation of the teacher licensing programme.

According to him, the Council will need to do a wider stakeholder consultation to explain and outline the benefits that teachers stand to gain with the programme. This, he believes, will avert any agitations against the initiative.

The NTC has said teachers will now have to pass a special examination before being granted the license to teach. This, according to the body, is to ensure discipline and eliminate non-performing teachers from the system.

Speaking on this programme in an interview with Chief Jerry Forson, host of Ghana Yensom, on Accra 100.5FM, Dr Evelyn Oduro, Executive Secretary of the NTC explained: “The examination is not going to be like the classroom kind of examination where the teachers will sit and answer questions as school children. This is a professional examination, and so we are not putting them in a room to pick pen and paper to write this or that.”

She added: “We haven’t even decided on the format that we are going to use but it won’t be the classroom type. We are going to meet with the teacher unions and agree on the format. We need to focus on the benefits that this arrangement will bring to us as a nation rather than looking at the negatives. This will rather give the teachers continuous professional development.”

Raising concern, Mr Ofori Acheampong said of the programme: “Take your time and sit with stakeholders to discuss the issues. Who specifically are going to be licensed and what process are we going to use?

“When this is done we as an association can allay the fears of our members. That is our main issues with the programme.

“Our major concern is to protect the concerns of the teachers and so the NTC must meet with us and discuss the programme before its implementation.”