Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (Eduwatch), Kofi Asare, has revealed that the availability of licensed teachers is not a problem when it comes to the education sector in the country. He rather noted that the issue of literacy level of prospective students vying for entrance in teaching colleges is a cause for concern.
Mr Asare explained that having reviewed scripts from previous examinations, he can safely attest to the fact that English for instance is a “big issue” for students. He indicated that sometimes after review of an answer sheet, the quality of English written by students is “terrible”.
Mr Asare’s comments follow a decision by the National Teaching Council to introduce an entrance examination from August this year to prospective teacher trainees. The examination, known as Ghana Basic Education Skills Examination Test (GBEST), will assess the students in numeracy and literacy and will be the basis for admission into teacher training institutions in the country.
The GBEST will be used as the entry assessment for the trainee teachers and after completion, students will be made to write a level and subject-based licensure examination to be qualified as professional teachers.
“One of our problems is not the supply of teachers. We have licensed teachers who are in the system who have not been engaged by government; so, that is not one of our problems. Our problem is to get well-trained, committed and dedicated teachers. If you want to get the best from the youth [and] from our graduates to enter into teaching, you obviously should be concerned about their literacy and numeracy level, especially literacy levels”.
Kofi Asare
The Executive Director of Eduwatch advised that government must make sure that the best from the system is groomed to teach students. He revealed that his assertions are not to “constrict access to teacher training”, but rather is an effort to get the best people with good English and numeracy skills to teach these students. Mr Asare emphasized that the motivation for prospective teachers must not be because “there’s allowance to be enjoyed at the College of Education”.
Eduwatch endorses prospective teacher training exams
Following the Council’s decision to harmonise teacher education admissions and improve on teacher education as part of its educational reforms, Mr Asare highlighted that his endorsement of the exam does not suggest that senior high schools are not doing something right.
He however intimated that, if government continues to “spectate the growing levels of examination fraud at WASSCE”, what will happen is that the faculties in tertiary institutions will begin introducing entrance examinations because they may not trust the quality of certificates being churned out at the secondary level.
“What I sought to indicate was that we are seeing a growing trend of faculties introducing entrance exams and interviews before admission even though these students have WASSCE results. Anytime you see a faculty introducing an entrance exam in spite of a certificate from WASSCE, it tells you that the acceptance level of that certificate is not complete. If the acceptance level was complete, there won’t be the need for the faculty to introduce and entry examination when there is a certification system”.
Kofi Asare
READ ALSO: E-Travel Card To Curb The Problem Of Corruption- VP Spokesperson
