In the wake of the recently released West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) results, public debate has been regrettably shaped by a misleading narrative suggesting that student underperformance is a direct consequence of teachers failing licensure examinations. This assertion, made by the Hon. Minister of Education on JoyNews program EduWatch, is not only factually incorrect but also conceptually flawed and injurious to the integrity of the teaching profession.

The statement “If teachers fail licensure exams, why would you be surprised if students fail WASSCE?” rests on a fundamental misrepresentation of Ghana’s teacher regulatory framework and an erroneous conflation of licensure candidates with duly qualified teachers.

Clarifying the Legal and Professional Status of a Teacher

The National Teaching Council (NTC) was established to professionalise teaching and uphold educational standards in Ghana. The Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) is central to this mandate and serves exclusively as an entry requirement into the profession. It is not, and has never been, an assessment of serving teachers.

By law and by professional convention:

A Teacher is a trained, certified, licensed, and inducted professional authorised to teach in Ghanaian classrooms.

A Licensure Candidate is a graduate or trainee seeking entry into the profession and who has not yet met the statutory requirements to teach.

Individuals who fail the licensure examination do not enter classrooms, do not deliver curricula, and do not assess learners. Serving teachers, having already satisfied all licensure requirements before appointment, are not eligible to retake the examination. Consequently, attributing WASSCE outcomes to “teachers” who have allegedly failed licensure examinations is inaccurate, misleading, and logically indefensible.

A Misplaced Transfer of Accountability

The attempt to link the performance of licensure candidates to the academic outcomes of senior high school students represents a false equivalence for several reasons:

1. Selection Versus Performance.
   The licensure examination is a gatekeeping mechanism designed to prevent unqualified individuals from entering the classroom. If the system operates as intended, only competent, licensed professionals are entrusted with the education of learners.
2. Erosion of Professional Integrity.
   Broadly associating teachers with licensure failure unjustly discredits thousands of licensed educators who successfully passed the examination and continue to serve with dedication, often under challenging conditions and in spite of unresolved professional and welfare concerns.
3. Policy Deflection.
   This narrative risks diverting public attention from the substantive structural, resource, and policy challenges that more plausibly account for variations in educational outcomes.

Conclusion: Reframing the National Conversation

If the government is sincerely committed to improving educational outcomes and safeguarding the future of Ghana’s youth, the national discourse must be anchored in accuracy, fairness, and evidence-based policy analysis. Using the challenges faced by licensure candidates to rationalise leadership shortcomings in secondary education does a grave disservice to the sector.

The title “Teacher” is neither rhetorical nor symbolic. It is earned through rigorous training, certification, and licensure. Until that process is completed, no individual qualifies as a teacher under the law and should not be invoked as a proxy explanation for broader educational challenges.

Protecting the integrity of the teaching profession is not optional. It is essential to restore public confidence, strengthen accountability, and advance meaningful and sustainable reform within Ghana’s secondary education system.