The Public Relations Officer of the National Teaching Council (NTC), Dennis Osei-Owusu has debunked claims of the Council suspending the licensure examination for teachers.
According to him, they are not under duress from any political party to take such decision which is well within their purview.
Rather, he disclosed that there was the postponement of exams to 1st and 2nd October due to changes in the timetable of continuing students of the Colleges of Education.
“It is just a week change from the date of writing the licensure exams and the issue out there that we are suspending it is totally false. We have not suspended licensure exams and I don’t think we have any plans of suspending licensure exams now. There is no pressure on us to suspend it. NTC as an entity is in charge we are fully geared towards implementing our mandate as part of our mandate of professionalizing teaching in Ghana.
“There was a lot stakeholder consultation where we agreed that teachers yet to join the teaching service will write exams, so they join the mainstream teachers when they are recruited, and so we don’t have any idea in suspending the exams and there is no pressure on us to suspend it. In our books, we don’t have anything on our books.”
As a Council, Mr. Osei-Owusu expressed their commitment to delivering on its mandate to the fullest.
“Now teachers are now going to enjoy professional allowance as a result of NTC professionalizing teaching in Ghana and, apart from that, the main thing we are looking at is that global recognition in Ghana. Now we liaise with international teacher organizations, So the only thing you do is just key in the PIN of the teacher on that platform and all the details of the teacher, who is already licensed, and all the details will pop up and that person will be given the opportunity to work anywhere in the world.”
Elsewhere, the NDC’s spokesperson on education, Samuel Okudzeto Ablakwa, has rubbished the assertions that the licensure exams still holds, adding that they have ample evidence and sources to corroborate their claim.
“We also have our sources and our stakeholders within the NTC, but we can’t put out vivid names of our sources. So we still stand by our claims that it will be postponed. It is clear that the government has been unpopular and uncomfortable with this.”
The NPP seems to be implementing some policies captured in our manifesto- Mahama
Speaking at a town hall meeting on Tuesday, September 15, 2020, the NDC Flagbearer John Dramani Mahama, intimated that the Akufo-Addo government is implementing policies in the NDC’s 2020 manifesto, including the cancellation of the teacher licensure exam.
“The NPP seems to be implementing some policies captured in our manifesto. Recently, they revealed that consultations have begun to review the law banning the activities of okada riders. Similarly, the teacher licensure exam has been suspended after we promised to cancel it in our manifesto”.
