The Minister for Education, Dr Matthew Opoku Prempeh has announced that the minimum teaching qualification will soon be a bachelor’s degree for basic school teachers in the country.
Dr. Prempeh who is working in close collaboration with Transforming Teacher Education and Learning Programme, said their aim is to improve quality and upgrade capacity.
“Our aim is to upgrade capacity and improve upon quality of teacher education to position our teachers to be able to respond to our current and future challenges in education.”
Speaking in Parliament when he delivered a statement on education and teacher reforms in the country, Dr Opoku Prempeh said the decision was influenced by a result of research evidence which said that the weakness in the quality of teachers holding diplomas affect their delivery.
Dr Prempeh said a report by the Department for International Development in 2015, observed that Diploma in Education curriculum does not adequately prepare trainees to teach in Ghanaian schools.
“Mr Speaker, we deeply appreciate the fact that early years of a child’s education are extremely significant to their future development.
“Consequently, we have focus on teacher reforms and have taken necessary steps to upgrade all our Colleges of Education to University Colleges to award a Bachelor of Education degrees following a review of teacher education curriculum into standard-based curriculum.”
The minister also said that, in deepening the government’s commitment to teachers and their professional growth, an allowance of GH¢1,200 per year for professional teachers and a GH¢600 per year for non-professionals are likely to happen soon.
He said,
“This will enable teachers to invest in improving and upgrading their skills and keeping abreast with modern trends to assist in improving learning outcomes.”
He further went on to say that, cabinet had approved proposals for the management of post-retirement contracts in public universities.
“This approval provides grounds for streamlining and regularising the need to retain highly skilled and experienced academic staff to support the core business of the universities.”
He said post-retirement contracts would be guided by the current mandatory retirement age of 60, and associate professors and professors shall be eligible for post-retirement contracts until the age of 70.
Dr Prempeh said as part of school management reforms, government was introducing management pathways for teachers who show early interest in school management.
“We believe it is important to identify and groom inspirational teachers to assume management roles and drive academic excellence.”
He said the government was committed to the wellbeing of teachers and will as well make the educational sector revolve around them.
