NTC gives a deadline for non-professional teachers to get a license

The National Teaching Council (NTC) has announced the end of December this year as the deadline for about 30,000 non-professional teachers at the pre-tertiary level to obtain the appropriate teaching registration and licensing.

In an interview with the Daily Graphic, the Registrar of NTC, Dr Christian Addai Poku said the non-professional teachers are bachelor’s degree and non-bachelor’s degree holders, who were recruited before the introduction of the licensure regime in 2018.

He said that under a new arrangement, degree holders are required to enrol in a Postgraduate Diploma in Education (PGDE) programme at an accredited teacher education university to be issued a teacher’s registration and licence upon successful completion of the programme.

“This fast-track programme will last for 16 weeks and shall be exclusive for those who were teachers before September 30, 2018.

All other categories of untrained teachers are required to attend a one-week Booth Camp training in designated institutions and be issued permanent registration upon successful completion of the training.

 This shall be exclusive for those who were teachers before September 30, 2018,” the Registrar of the National Teaching Council, Dr Christian Addai-Poku, told the Daily Graphic in an exclusive interview in Accra.

He indicated that his outfit had started engaging with four universities, namely; the University of Cape Coast (UCC), the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), the University for Development Studies (UDS) and the Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED).

He said in July 2022, the Council gave a special dispensation to in-service non-professional teachers employed before September 2018 to undergo an exemption exercise to secure the full licence given to such teachers within two years after upgrading to a professional status.

Dr Addai-Poku gave an assurance that participants in those two programmes would not be required to write the licensure examination, “as this forms part of the transitional arrangements for those who were employed by the GES before the introduction of the licensure examination in 2018.”

“The data revealed that 7,100 teachers in the senior high schools in the six regions do not possess the right credentials to be in the classroom,” the NTC Registrar noted.

Addai Poku told the newspaper said per the transitional arrangement, such teachers needed to be supported to obtain credentials that would qualify them for permanent registration and licensing.

“A person shall not practise as a teacher unless the person is registered as a teacher in accordance with this Act,” it was pertinent that immediate steps were taken to ensure that the teachers complied

In view of the above, the Council intends to deploy a special dispensation to register and licence all non-professional in-service teachers in the country,” he said Citing section 67(1) of the Education Regulatory Bodies Act (2020), Act 1023.

He reminded the affected teachers to take advantage of it, “because those who will not take up the opportunity before the end of December 2024, even if they upgrade themselves, they will be required to write the licensure examination.”