The National Teaching Council (NTC) will, on May 13, 2021, give unlicensed teachers in both the private and public sectors the opportunity to get provisional teaching licenses.
The provisional licenses cost GHS200 and have to be renewed yearly for three years.
The unlicensed teachers will have to pass the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) to become professionals, or they will not be allowed to practise.
“Teachers without licenses who are not trained, are going to be given training and be given a provisional license to operate, and it is subject to yearly renewal,” the Public Relations Officer of the NTC, Dennis Osei Owusu explained to Citi News.
“If they are not able to upgrade to become teachers then, automatically, they are taking themselves out of the system. The same thing applies to teachers already in the system, who are in the public sector but are not trained and are also going through the same process.”
Acquiring a licence is mandatory before becoming a teacher in a public school.
The government introduced the teacher licensure examination in 2018, backed by the Education Act of 2008, Act 778, with the first-ever exams taking place in September 2018.
The National Teaching Council is also mandated by Education Regulators’ Body Act 2020 (ACT 1023) to improve the professional standing and status of teachers and to ensure the licensing and registration of teachers in Ghana.
The purpose of the licensure examination is to enable qualified teachers to acquire professional licenses and prepare them to meet the National Teachers’ Standards of possessing the minimum knowledge, skills, values and attitudes necessary to deliver effectively in schools.