The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has set up a new committee under the National Teaching Council (NTC) to find a new way of assessing teachers. The plan is to move away from the current teacher licensure exams and instead focus more on academic training and practical fieldwork.
This decision follows President John Mahama’s campaign promise in 2024 to abolish the licensure exams if elected.
“We promised to end licensure exams, and we will. But I need professional advice on how to do it properly,” Mr Iddrisu said. He explained that the committee will guide the transition to a new system without the exams.
Mr Iddrisu also suggested that the committee should consider giving candidates who failed the exam before one final chance to resit before the exams are completely removed.
He stressed that the new system should include both classroom training and hands-on teaching experience as part of teacher education.
In addition to reforms in teacher qualification, the Minister raised concerns about the quality of graduates from universities. Speaking at the inauguration of the new board of the Ghana Tertiary Education Commission (GTEC), he urged them to focus on improving the quality of higher education.
“Higher education is the final stage before young people enter the job market, and we must ensure it is of high quality,” he said.
