Ranking Member on Parliament’s Education Committee Dr. Clement Apaak says the promise by former President John Dramani Mahama to review the free senior high school policy and to cancel the teacher licensure exams makes sense.
The Builsa South Member of Parliament opined that stakeholders in the education sector have supported the review of the free senior high school policy to make it better than it is today.
He stated that those who have opposed this idea, ridiculing the former president, are out of touch with reality.
He also shot down assertions that the former president intends to cancel free SHS, as some appointees of the government, including Deputy Education Minister Rev. Ntim Fordjour, had claimed.
Dr. Apaak said Mr. Mahama had consistently argued that the free SHS has come to stay and no government can cancel it.
However, the way it is currently being implemented is not the best, hence his decision to review it if he is elected president.
“Ghanaians of all walks of life are calling for a review of the fSHS policy, which has been implemented for over six years, and JM will honour this call because the fSHS programme is challenged by: erratic academic calendar; inadequate and unwholesome food; inadequate academic and residential space; overworked teaching and non-teaching staff amongst others. Equally, JM’s proposed forum on fSHS will also consider the role of PTA’s and private secondary schools in the delivery of the policy.”
Dr. Apaak stated that Mahama was not opposed to teacher licencing.
However, they are opposed to the current regime.
“JM is not opposed to examining teachers as a basis of certifying them as professionals. However, like teacher trainees and stakeholders in teacher training, JM is opposed to the current arrangement towards certification. His reasonable alternative is to make the examination towards professional certification a final year compulsory course to be written alongside other final year courses.
In JM’s variant, when a teacher trainee passes all final year courses, including the course tailored to certify a trainee as a professional teacher, the trainee is given a licence. If the trainee passes all courses but fails the certification course, he/she doesn’t get a licence and would have to re-register the course and write it in his/her college as is the case with final year compulsory courses.”
Read the full statement below
JM’s Promises To Review fSHS and To Cancel Teacher Lincensure Examination Make Sense
Every stakeholder in education in Ghana is in favour of reviewing the fSHS programme and the cancellation of the Teacher Lincensure examination, but NADAA, DMB, Hon. Fordjour and the NPP gov’t. The promises made by JM are commonsensical, justified and will be implemented when he takesover as President. Hon. Fordjour and the NPP gov’t are either out of touch with reality or haven’t followed public sentiments.
If JM has plans to cancel fSHS he wouldn’t be planning to invite stakeholders to a national forum to discuss fSHS. JM has on several occasions said that fSHS has come to stay. Like most Ghanaians however, he is concerned about the well documented implementation challenges and how to address them to make the fSHS better for national good.
Ghanaians of all walks of life are calling for a review of the fSHS policy, which has been implemented for over six years, and JM will honour this call because the fSHS programme is challenged by: erratic academic calendar; inadequate and unwholesome food; inadequate academic and residential space; overworked teaching and non-teaching staff amongst others. Equally, JM’s proposed forum on fSHS will also consider the role of PTA’s and private secondary schools in the delivery of the policy.
JM is not opposed to examining teachers as a basis of certifying them as professionals. However, like teacher trainees and stakeholders in teacher training, JM is opposed to the current arrangement towards certification. His reasonable alternative is to make the examination towards professional certification a final year compulsory course to be written alongside other final year courses.
In JM’s variant, when a teacher trainee passes all final year courses, including the course tailored to certify a trainee as a professional teacher, the trainee is given a licence. If the trainee passes all courses but fails the certification course, he/she doesn’t get a licence and would have to re-register the course and write it in his/her college as is the case with final year compulsory courses.
This mode of teacher certification in addition to JM’s promise to cancel the one year compulsory national service, which is currently an additional requirement for appointment as a teacher by the Ghana Education Service, has additional advantages. Under JM’s proposal, teacher trainees who pass all courses, including the certification course, are immediately posted to the classroom; no wasting a year doing national service and no need to pay, after national service, to write a lincensure examination.
We can certify our teacher trainees to professional teachers and deploy them in the classrooms sooner, where they are most needed, through a cheaper, simplified yet rigorous process.
Dr. Clement Abas Apaak
MP, Builsa South and Deputy Ranking Member On Education Committee of Parliament
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana
