Ace Investigative Journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni has expressed deep concerns and worry about the total neglect and lack of investment in teacher training education in the country.
In a Facebook post on Friday, November 24 2023, the Nieman Fellow asserted that extreme partisan politics has taken over ‘sound’ policies and tangible investment in human resources and infrastructure regarding teacher training education in the country.
According to him, the situation if not appropriately addressed by the government would result in poor educational outcomes in the country.
Commenting on the teachers’ licensure exams, Mr Awuni argued that the most appropriate way of transforming education and achieving better and quality education is not the introduction of licensure exams for teacher trainee graduates to write.
Manasseh Azure Awuni further lamented over the possible destruction of the teachers’ licensure exams regime as instituted by President Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party administration through the National Teaching Council (NTC) by corruption and other malpractices which usually characterize government activities in the country.
“The solution is not to write a licensure exam. What the Ministry of Education and the Ghana Education Service have not been able to fix in three or four years of training and certifying teachers cannot be fixed by an examination whose integrity they cannot vouch for. This so-called licensure exam will soon breed corruption; that is if we assume it hasn’t begun”.
Manasseh Azure Awuni
Manasseh Backs Mahama’s Proposal To Cancel Teachers’ Licensure Exams
Furthermore, Manasseh Azure Awuni, the celebrated journalist and writer endorsed the National Democratic Congress flagbearer for the 2024 general election John Dramani Mahama’s proposal to abolish the teachers’ licensure exams when elected as President of the country in 2024.
However, Mr Awuni urged Former President John Dramani Mahama and the National Democratic Congress to propose appropriate measures that would help to address or solve the problem of poor quality of teachers in the country when elected into power in 2025.
He underscored the need for the government to begin to take appropriate measures and steps to pay teachers in the country with ‘decent salaries’ as well as the need for the government to institute better conditions of service to attract brilliant and dedicated teacher trainee graduates into the teaching profession.
Moreover, Mr Awuni urged the government to undertake massive infrastructural development across the various teacher trainee colleges in the country and provide them with all the necessary and required resources to properly equip them to produce quality teachers for the country.
According to him, if the government can embark upon such infrastructural development across the various teacher trainee institutions in the country and provide such institutions with the resources they need for teaching and learning activities, the country will achieve high-quality education.
“If the teachers we produce are not qualified to teach, we deal with the cause and not the symptoms”.
Manasseh Azure Awuni
On the other hand, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum, the Minister of Education has lauded President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo and the New Patriotic Party administration for committing significant budget support for the education sector over the years which has led to a massive transformation in the sector.
Speaking at the launch of the 2023 National Education Week at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra on Friday, November 2023, Dr Yaw Osei Adutwum described the ongoing transformation in the education sector as a catalyst for national development and called on all stakeholders to continue supporting the government to ensure that the outcomes would continue to improve the quality of education and ultimately the quality of life in the country.
According to the Bosomtwe Member of Parliament the Ministry of Education is very keen and committed to fostering closer ties with all stakeholders in the educational sector to promote the development of education in the country.
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