Executive Director of Africa Education Watch (EduWatch), Kofi Asare, has asserted that potential teachers in Ghana should not be permitted to retake the teacher licence examinations.
He believes that applicants who do not pass the licence exams need to be disqualified from teaching because they are most likely not qualified.
He emphasised that literacy abilities are evaluated on the tests in addition to academic prowess and topic matter expertise.
According to him, a prospective teacher is most likely unqualified if they are unable to read and write in English well on their first try at the test.
“Once you demonstrate the incapacity to read and write or demonstrate low proficiency in the English language, that should be it. You cannot learn English in tertiary education, so that should be the end.
“… it is non-negotiable. We shouldn’t allow them to even write it for a second time,” he is quoted as having said during an interview on Joy FM’s Super Morning Show.
However, Kofi Asare pointed out that people who have trouble in school or with a particular topic had to be given another opportunity to take the test.
He appealed on Ghanaians to take the teacher licensure tests, claiming that doing so could improve the quality of teaching in both public and private schools in the country.