The National Teaching Council (NTC) of the Ministry of Education has put the professional licensing examinations on hold.
This follows a suit filed by four graduate teachers who averred that the conduct of the examination is an affront to the 1992 Constitution, as they passed final examinations in their respective training institutions.
All graduates nationwide were expected to write the professional licensing examinations to be conducted by the Ghana Education Service (GES).
The examination, according to GES, is aimed at standardizing teaching in schools across the country.
The conduct of the examination applies to both trainee teachers graduating from public and private teacher training colleges nationwide.
But teachers in the country have expressed reservations about the exams, with the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) stating that the move would be unfair to students taught with different curricula.
Subsequently, the applicants, Eric Froku Tetteh, Lydia Owusuwaa, Freeman Yeboah and Gifty Mensah, filed an application for judicial review at an Accra High Court to challenge the constitutionality of the examinations.
They also filed a motion for an interlocutory injunction against the planned implementation of a new order by the NTC to the effect that all trained teachers of the 2018 graduating class should acquire licences before they can teach.
According to them, NTC, GES and the Ministry of Education have no power under the law to demand licences from the 2018 Class of trained teachers before they could teach.
They averred that they have already acquired the status as teachers and are qualified to teach per the terms and conditions set by the Ghana Education Service and the Colleges of Education prior to “our final examination and graduation from the colleges as trained teachers.”
“That we, the applicants and all other trained teachers of the 2018 class, were not given prior notice of the change in the standards of our profession until two days to the final examinations in our colleges,” the applicants averred.
According to them, although the requirement of the licence is provided for in the Education Act, 2008 (Act 778) its implementation by the 2nd Respondent is most unreasonable, discriminatory, illegal and arbitrary.
The applicants also maintained that such requirements have not been applied to the 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017 Class of trained teachers who are teaching with the same diplomas in basic education without any harassment from the 2nd Respondent.
“That the Licensure Examinations were administered by the 2nd Respondent (NTC) without any learning materials or course of instruction provided to the applicants and their colleagues and that we, under the circumstances, have been set up to fail the exams as a result.”
“We stand the risk of being unemployed after successfully qualifying as trained teachers if the NTC is allowed to implement its arbitrary, discriminatory, unfair, capricious and illegal licensure examination requirements and fail us for not passing its hurriedly organised exams.
When the case was called yesterday, counsel for NTC, Ebo Laine told the court that although some trained teachers had already written the licensure examination, the whole process had been put on hold until the determination of the current application.
He prayed the court to adjourn the matter to enable them file their processes.
The court, presided over by Justice Elis Asare Nyarko, subsequently adjourned the matter to October 25, 2018.
By Gibril Abdul Razak