More than 300 teachers from private schools in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, who are members of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), have undergone training in teacher professionalism as part of a government directive to guarantee that teachers in Ghanaian classrooms have a minimum qualification of a degree. To be eligible to apply for a full-time teaching licence in the upcoming three years, they must first complete the programme.
The National Teaching Council’s Head of Public Affairs, Dennis Osei Owusu, outlined how the training aims to improve the teachers’ competence and put them in a position to deliver effective instruction. communicating with Citi News.
According to Mr. Owusu, “the legislation has made it plain that a teacher must be a trained teacher or must also have a teacher’s licence before entering a Ghanaian school to teach. We have observed that the majority of Ghana’s private schools don’t hire teachers with prior teaching experience. Our opinion is that the ideal course of action is to provide such instructors with training to teach for a period of three years, and by that time, they must have adequately prepared themselves to sit for the licence exams.
In order to achieve a shared victory, the Head of Public Affairs stressed the significance of including instructors in the private school sector who might not have the required credentials. He urged them to actively participate in the exercise.
“If instructors in the private school sector want to stay in this line of work, they must take advantage of this fantastic opportunity to develop themselves.”
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During the five-day programme, numerous private school teachers enthusiastically spoke with Citi News about how the experience will improve their classrooms. The government was urged to lower taxes on private schools so they can function more freely by school owners who took part in the exercise alongside their teachers.
“The taxes are just too much for us as private schools. At the end of the day, you realise that we are only working to pay taxes since we have more than eight taxes that we must pay to the government. According to Mary Gifty Nyatsikah, proprietor of the Streams in the Desert School complex and municipal chairperson of Municipal B of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools, we want everything to be embodied.
Due to their critical role in bringing education to communities, Madam Mary voiced worry about the challenges faced by private schools in maintaining their sustainability and urged the government to offer financial help. She underlined that the teacher training is necessary at this time since teachers in private schools must modernise their pedagogical approaches.
The registration fees for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) are also too high, according to Nicholas Wachoba, the chairman of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools Municipal A. He urged the government to reduce the costs because parents are already under financial strain.
We want the government to take action because, according to Nicholas Wachoba, chairman of Municipal A, “my main concern is with the registration of the BECE registration, which has been set at 170 cedis and this is a bit too high looking at the already enormous financial burden private school parents are faced with.”
Teachers who got the chance to participate in the programme expressed their gratitude for the opportunity, saying it would give them a platform to grow in their careers and work towards getting their teaching licence in the near future.
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