Teacher licencing tests will be improved by the upcoming NDC administration – Apaak

A member of the Education Committee of Parliament and MP for Builsa South, Clement Apaak, has revealed that the next National Democratic Congress (NDC) government intends to fine-tune the Teacher Licensure Exams in order to prevent mass failures.

According to Dr Apaak, the NDC is committed to addressing existing concerns associated with the current exams and implementing necessary changes to ensure accurate assessment of aspiring teachers’ capabilities and qualifications.

This announcement follows the alarming failure of 6,451 candidates who took the 2023 Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination in May, marking the highest failure rate since the exam’s inception.

The purpose of the Teacher Licensure Exams is to ensure the presence of qualified teachers in Ghanaian classrooms.

During an interview on the Big Issue on Citi TV on Saturday, June 25, Dr Apaak stated that by refining the Teacher Licensure Exams, the NDC aims to establish a more comprehensive and effective evaluation system that truly measures the competencies and abilities of teachers.

Dr Apaak firmly believes that through these improvements, Ghana can uphold the highest standards of excellence in its teaching workforce.

Meanwhile, the Executive Director of Africa Education Watch, Kofi Asare, has expressed satisfaction with the failure of the 6,451 candidates who took the 2023 Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination.

Mr Asare considered the failure to be a positive development as it prevents unfit teachers from instructing students.

“I have seen some of the scripts and there is little to nothing that can be done if graduates cannot string a sentence together in English. We had about 87 per cent or so of them failing in English,” he said in an interview on Citi FM.