Re – To scrap the Ghana Teachers Licensure Examination? What I see and how I see it

I have cited a piece of write up circulating on social media which is purported to have been authored by Professor Eric Nyarko Sampson who is said to be the Chairman of the National Teaching Council NTC. I will not make any attempt to respond to his unwarranted attacks on his Excellency John Dramani Mahama and Myself.The positioning of Prof Eric Nyarko-Sampson better places him as a government communicator and that dents his image greatly.

First and foremost, my good friend was unable to address the issues that I raised in my earlier write up.His supposed response to my article only recounted history of Act 778 of 2008 which Ghanaians are already aware. Let me draw the attention of Prof Eric Nyarko to the fact that the Act which he makes reference to actually took account of my contribution on the floor of Parliament on 22nd February 2005 ( Ref Parliamentary Hansard of 22nd February 2005).
The Act was to establish independent supervisory body in pre-tertiary education which was rightly captured in the Act as “National Inspectorate Board” NIB.

His long winding statements failed to address the fundamental issues that I raised in my earlier article and that has prompted me to reitrate them.I want Prof Eric Nyarko-Sampson to provide response to these questions and statements:
● By virtue of the high office that he holds, is he aware that during the era of H.E John Mahama the Ministry of Education secured a grant of Ghc102 million for Transforming Teacher Education and learning T-TEL and that the Programme was aimed at equipping teacher trainees to meet all the necessary knowledge needed for the Lincensure?
● Can Prof Eric Nyarko-Sampson deny the fact that
the T-TEL programme is still on going in all the colleges of Education?
● On what grounds or circumstance was Act 778 repealed or amended? I ask this question on the back of a fraudulent document that is been circulated to the effect that I sat in a meeting to review Act 778 and that gave him power to conduct professional examination before licensure. Per the same document, the National Teaching Council NTC has been renamed National Teaching Authority NTA. So if he has power to conduct examination, is he chairman of NTC or NTA?
Or the supposed change of mandate and name did not affect his position and name!

For purposes of education to our readers, it is illegal for an individual, group of persons or an institution to alter an Act of Parliament without recourse to parliament. An to the best of my knowledge, the original Act did not mandated NTC or any institution to conduct examination of any kind towards licensing of teachers. So the claims made by Professor Eric Nyarko in his write up and in the document that he brought to circulation are falsehood and must be treated with the contempt that it deserves.

Meanwhile I have been reliably informed that your institution NTC, charges around Ghc350 for the licensure examination. I’m again hinted that, the exorbitant fee charged remains the only source of revenue for funding NTC programs. It is unacceptable to exploit these young unemployed graduates which will only worsen their plight. The good Prof should solicit funds from the appropriate quarters for the running of his office and not resort to cunningly exploiting these young graduates in the pretence of licensure examination.

The position of NDC remains unchanged, we will continue with the T-TEL programmes for Teacher Trainees. We will strengthen our commitment with JICA for support for professional teachers to be brought to standard required in Act 778 for Lincensure through various in-service training. The NDC remains the best alternative in provision of accessible, affordable and quality education to Ghanaians.

I will on this note urge the general public to disregard Professor Eric Nyarko’s assertion that Act 778 was reviewed in 2015 to include Professional Examination. It is a lie that is aimed at apportioning blame to NDC following the embarrassment that this unpopular decision has brought to the government and the NTC.

Long live Ghana!

Hon Alexander Kyeremeh
Former Deputy Education Minister