National Teaching Council intensified efforts to sanitise the teaching profession
Over 100,000 non-professional teachers risk removal — NTC
The National Teaching Council (NTC) has intensified efforts to sanitise the teaching profession as more than 100,000 non-professional teachers continue to teach in basic and private schools across the country without the required qualifications and licences.
The council said the situation posed a major threat to the quality of education, particularly in rural communities where unqualified teachers continued to dominate classrooms.
The Director in charge of Teacher Licensing at the NTC, Francis Addae, disclosed this during a special matriculation ceremony for students admitted into the Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme at the Catholic University of Ghana (CUG) last Monday.
Compliance exercise
According to him, a recent compliance exercise conducted in second-cycle schools revealed that about 12,279 graduate teachers lacked professional teaching certificates required for licensing.
Mr Addae warned that non-professional teachers who failed to regularise their status risked being removed from classrooms in the future.
“The time will come when you may not be allowed to teach,” he cautioned.
He explained that the PGDE programme formed part of efforts by the council to help non-professional teachers acquire the required qualifications and become licensed professionals.
Mr Addae disclosed that although more than 12,000 non-professional graduate teachers had been identified at the senior high school level, only about 1,421 were currently enrolled in the programme nationwide.
He urged affected teachers to take advantage of the initiative and also encourage their colleagues to enrol in subsequent cohorts expected later this year.
Mr Addae revealed that the programme had been heavily subsidised to make it affordable, reducing fees from between GH¢8,000 and GH¢9,000 to GH¢5,000 payable in instalments.
