Major teacher unions in the country are in a crunch meeting over the mass failure of prospective teachers in the recently held licensure examination.
According to the Vice President of the National Association of Graduate Teachers(NAGRAT), Jacob Anaba, the meeting is meant to allow the unions to deliberate on the possible factors accounting for the mass failure.
This, he said will help the union tackle the problem from the root when it engages the National Teaching Council (NTC).
Speaking to JoyNews, he said, “NTC needs to give us particulars and better information as to which category of students are unable to pass.”
He explained that there were different schools running education courses hence until the NTC provides a list of schools failing the examination nothing can be done to address the happenings.
“So, we need to know which area we are getting this failure from. So we will engage the NTC and find out the category of students who normally will fail the exam so we tackle the issue from the root,” he said.
Meanwhile, some prospective students who are preparing to write the exams later this year are already raising concerns about the lack of preparatory materials.
A student said, “most of us are doing our preparations on our own, some are relying on past questions, others have created a group to learn from each other.”
Another candidate said during the induction service they were advised to rely on pass questions as it was the best way to adequately prepare.
“From the conversation with some of our friends, it looks like they are lacking the material to aid them in their preparation and if those ones could be provided it would help,” he said.
He added that this year’s examination was going to be different from the previous years, therefore the lack of materials was a major concern.
However, the Registrar of NTC, Dr Christian Addai-Poku insists that the assessment is to ensure that Ghanaian teachers meet international standards.
“If a Ghanaian teacher now is going to teach in the UK, you don’t need to write any exams or build any portfolio, you just go with your NTC licensure result or the license.”
He added that until now teachers had to write examinations to gain employment overseas hence this was to their advantage.
“Only four countries in Africa have that dispensation, Ghana, South Africa, Nigeria, Zimbabwe. It tells us that we are doing a great job so we are setting standards that are not only applicable to Ghana but also global standards.
He stressed that this makes the “ Ghanaian Teacher a global brand so where ever you go you can fit in the system.”