President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers, Angel Kabonu, has said although the thinking behind Government’s proposed licencing regime for teachers is good, the approach and the narrative around it are bad.
He said the narrative suggesting that teachers are likely to lose their jobs when the regime comes into force has fueled the opposition by teacher unions and other actors in the education sector.
He wants the National Teaching Council (NTC) – the agency spearheading the programme to license teachers in the country – to incorporate systems into the upcoming regime to empower teachers, instead of trumpeting that supposed bad teachers will be weeded out from the system.
“If anyone thinks that the teacher unions are going to sit by for the licence to be a means by which teachers are made unemployed easily that person is just deluding himself. There are aspects of Labour Law on how to engage and disengage the worker and the mere revocation of a person’s licence will not be enough to disengage a worker who is working in the public service.
“I want us to look at a licencing regime that is going to empower the teacher. That is going to enhance the teacher’s wherewithal so that the teacher delivers well in the teaching environment. That is the type of teaching and direction I want us to go,” he said on MultiTV’s current affairs show, PM Express, on Tuesday evening.
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The NTC has embarked on a firm campaign to implement the licencing regime this year, directing teacher trainees to either take part in the licencing regime or exempt themselves.
Executive Secretary of NTC, Dr. Evelyn Oduro, said teachers have dragged their feet for too long to support the programme.
Government says the new licensing regime will improve professionalism in teaching but both NAGRAT and the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) are not convinced.
On Tuesday, trainee teachers in Kumasi, the Ashanti Region capital, joined the opposition the proposed regime and embarked on a street protest.
Speaking extensively on the regime on Tuesday, Mr Kabonu told PM Express host, Nana Ansah Kwao IV, that a driver’s licence is a clear indication that licencing teachers will not solve the problem of poor teaching in the Ghana schools.
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He said although drivers go through rigorous testing before getting licences, Ghana’s roads have not been spared accidents and many road traffic violations.
“We have enough rules and regulations in the Ghana Education Service (GES) to be able to check [teachers] who are not performing to establishment,” he said, questioning the role the proposed licencing regime will play in ensuring professionalism.
“When we all apply the rules the way they are supposed to be applied; when we intensify supervision; when we develop a Continuous Professional Development [CPD] activities and making those activities available to the teacher for the teacher to know that before I progress on the career ladder, I will have to avail myself to CPDs’…[the problem of unprofessionalism will persist],” he said.
Watch more in the video below.
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