44,000 teachers fail teacher licensure examinations

Over 36% of teachers who wrote the 2022 Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination have failed, according to the registrar for the National Teaching Council, Christian Addai-Poku.

The percentage represents 44,000 out of the 120,000 teachers who sat for the examination.

Speaking about the poor performance of the candidates, the registrar remarked that the findings were concerning because the teachers who are expected to facilitate knowledge transfer are performing poorly on the tests.

His comments were made at the Institute of Teacher Education and Development’s town hall meeting during the 2022–23 Cohort of Leading Girls’ Learning Program (INTED).

According to Addai-Poku, only 26% of the total instructor population at the second-cycle level teachers are female which is uninspiring, while adding that female teachers need to be encouraged to be more involved.

“Having more female teachers at the second-cycle level would enable the girls in the schools to have role models they can look up to in these female teachers,” he added.

‘INTED’ is a Leading Girls’ Learning Programme with support from USAID, which seeks to address attitudes and barriers against girls in second-cycle schools to improve their learning environment. The programme also builds the competencies and skills of teachers in second-cycle institutions to improve the teaching and learning outcomes in schools.

Mr Divine Ayidzoe, Chief Director, Ministry of Education, also added that very soon, an entrance examination for persons who wanted to enrol in the various Colleges of Education would be instituted to attract bright students who would advance the teaching profession in the nation, according to the Ghanaian Publisher newspaper.

Mr Kwabena Ampoful, Executive Director, INTED, added that INTED, over the past decade, had worked with development partners to improve the quality of teaching and leadership practices in Senior High Schools.