The Ashanti Chapter of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS) has for the exclusion of teachers in private schools from the enforcement of the teacher licensing law.
The teacher licensing law, which requires teachers to be to be licensed before being being enployed, was enacted by the National Teaching Council (NTC) to assure the dissemination of quality education in schools across the country by qualified individuals with good skillsets. The NTC had also decided to enforce this law on teachers in private schools.
In a conference held in Kumasi, the acting president of GNAPS, Mr Philip Boakye Yiadom revealed that most teachers teaching in private schools are Senior High School (SHS) graduates incapable of undertaking the course required to acquire the license due to financial constraints.
According to him, their inability to take the course would require that they resign from the school in accordance with the NTC’s law.
“If I can’t support my teachers who do not have the financial standing to apply for the license, it implies that I would have to allow them to leave my school just to avoid being prosecuted by NTC. Some of these SHS students accept the teaching job in these schools just to gather money for studies at tertiary level.”
The acting president went on to speculate that by abiding by the Teacher Licensing law, the closure of many private schools will be imminent if the search for license teachers proves difficult for proprietors.
“The enforcement of the Act will [bring down] the private schools because if a proprietor can’t get a teacher who is licensed to teach, it will mean that the proprietor will have to close down his school for the fear of prosecution.”
Meanwhile, the Ashanti Regional Director of NTC, Mr. James Obeng has disclosed that the council has begun the enforcement of the law in various schools while still noting that sanctions will be metted out to lawbreakers.
“Now we are moving into the licensing enforcement state and we have already started so anyone who does not have the authorized license to teach, the NCT will deal with that person because the law is clear.”
He also emphasized that teachers from both public and private schools will be required to be licensed before seeking employment in the field.
”The teachers at public and private schools must acquire a teaching license to avoid prosecution by the Education Regulatory Bodies Act, 2020 (Act 1023).”
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Story by | Emmanuella Adu Gyamfi | universnews.ug.edu.gh
