The Ashanti Regional Director of the National Teaching Council (NTC), has explained the need for teachers to write the licensure exam.

Speaking on JoyNews’ The Pulse on Tuesday, Mr James Obeng said the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) “has put teachers on their toes to learn.”

According to him, the exam has also shaped how some training institutions prepare teacher trainees.

Due to this, he believes there has been some seriousness in the education sector.

He said “some of the students even tell us that in our school, they crack jokes by saying, ‘you joke with internal exam NTC will get you, the licensure will get you ... So, at least it has put teachers on their toes to learn, and we've got the quality teachers to be in the classroom.”

https://myjoyonline.com/6481-teachers-fail-licensure-examination/

His comments come after 6,451 out of the 7,728 prospective teachers who re-took the exam in May this year failed.

Mr Obeng said although he is not happy about the number that failed the exam, he is equally excited that “those who cannot spell simple English words haven’t found themselves in the classroom.”

“The impact is that the bad ones have been sieved out,” he insisted.

https://myjoyonline.com/over-6000-teachers-who-failed-licensure-exams-have-last-opportunity-to-resit-ntc-registrar/

Meanwhile, the Registrar of the National Teaching Council (NTC), Christian Addai-Poku, says a last chance would be given to the teachers who failed the licensure exams to re-sit.

“They have one last opportunity because the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination is going through reform, and when the reform kicks in, the current dispensation will fade out,” he explained.

According to him, the reform provides three chances for teachers who fail the exam to redeem themselves.

The first was written last year, the second in May this year, with the last open window set for November of 2023.

Mr Addai-Poku added that, if the teachers do not make it through the last open window, they will be left with two other options.

“One – if the person is a degree holder, then the person would have to enter the new dispensation and write the GTLE under the new dispensation with different subjects and different content altogether.

“If the person is a diploma holder, then the person would have to apply for a top-up and get a degree before the person can write. Because per policy as of now, a minimum qualification to teach in Ghana is first degree,” he stressed.