Unlicensed Teacher’s Alliance Petitioned NTC, MoE And D-G Of G.E.S
Imagined being punished for non-existing instruction. Aggrieved teachers who were employed before 2018 but were denied NTC teachers’ license have Petitioned NTC, Education Minister, and Director-General of Ghana Education Service against the anomaly. According to the alliance ‘Our griefs are borne on grounds that:
1. NTC promised and communicated same that, teachers who were in the service prior to 2018 when the NTC made the regulation for teachers to sit licensure examinations, would be licensed without taking the licensure examination. In their own presentation on their policy guidelines and framework of operations, on pages 19-21, they captured succinctly the process of professionalizing, licensing and registering in-service teachers without mention of any conditions.
Consequently, in a letter dated 2nd April, 2020, they beckoned on all in-service teachers, both public and private, to register on a teachers’ portal to facilitate their professionalization, especially, licensing and registration.
There was no differentiation whatsoever on grounds of professional certificates in these communiques nor was the date one obtained the certificate mentioned as a basis of registration. They took monies for Teacher Registered Numbers from those who had not obtained theirs prior to the said date and issued same to applicants, though some teachers could not get their numbers for no explicable reasons. On the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination (GTLE) and the NTC websites, it is emphatically stated that all in-service teachers would be licensed without licensure examination, and there was no specification that only professionals would be licensed or only teachers who had obtained their professional certificates before a particular period would be licensed.
2. NTC has not in any communication given an ultimatum for in-service teachers without professional certificates to obtain same before they are licensed. Granted that the council strictly requires teachers to have professional certificates to issue them with licences, we teachers were employed before the regulation of licensure examination was established. Besides, the licensing of in-service teachers began justthis year. Therefore, if those who were hitherto unqualified have now obtained the right certification, is there any justifiable reason to deny them licences? Besides, since it has never been a requirement for teachers to be solely professionals before they can practise, those employed before the introduction of the licensure examination who did not have professional certificatesshould be licensed without the licensure examination just as their professional colleagues.
3. Most of us have already obtained professional certification from the well-known institutions for teacher training, the same places our licensed colleagues obtained their professional teacher certificates. As at the time of the deduction of the fee for the licence, most of us had already upgraded to the professional status. A few of us had not successfully upgraded to professional status due to systems failure of the Ghana Education Service and high levels of corruption in there. Most of us have even gone further to qualify for promotion to the ranks of Assistant Director II and I after sitting and passing promotional examinations regulated by the council.
4. The council went ahead to authorize the deduction of a hundred Ghana cedis (GH100) each in 2020 and 2021 as fee for the licence. The second deduction in itself is incomprehensible because there had been no communication onthe cost of the licence to teachers. Be as it may, the council still denied us the licence after taking our monies. Now, if the council knew it would not license teachers who had not obtained professional certificates before 2018, on what grounds did it accept the monies of such teachers as fees for the licence?
5. Albeit, if NTC insists on the licensure examinations before licensing those of us in this category, that would be a breach of its own mandate and the laws which established it. This is premised on the fact that:
a. Laws are not retroactive. Education Act 778, 2008 which established NTC was not categorical on licentiates passing a licensure examination as carefully crafted in Act 1023 of 2020. Rather, one had to satisfy appropriate conditions which, of course, was expected to be set out by the council. Granted that the passing of the licensure examinationis a condition they set, it cannot be binding on those who were rightly employed before that regulation, since it was not a requirement then. In the appointment letters of teachers employed after 2018, it was stated clearly that one had to write and pass a licensure examination before they are licensed and registered. This was not the case with all those of us employed before the regulation on the licensure examination was made. Also, there is no justification to license teachers with professional certificates before 2018 and deny their counterparts who obtained theirs afterwardswhile theyare all in the service together.
b. Act 778, 2008 which established the NTC was repealed by Act 1023 of 2020.So, under which act is NTC implementing a regulation they made in 2018? Since Act 778 has been repealed under a new act, regulations madeunder the former, two (2) years prior to the new act cannot be said to have been made under the new act and therefore not binding on teachers. Moreover, granted that those regulations are accepted to have been made immediately prior to ACT 1023 and so admitted under the new Act, it can not have retrogressive effect on us.
c. After the council took GHC100 from members for the licence, the teacher registration numbers were rubbished. Enquiries made indicate that the registered numbers are no longer useful, the licence number rather is. Should we be tempted to believe that the council is confused and does not know what it is supposed to do or that the council seeks to exploit the teachers financially to their advantage? Is that not the case why they took monies for registered numbers, but later rubbished those numbers after denying dozen others same? Is it not why they have taken monies twice for licences but have denied some teachers same and are now referring such teachers to pay for licensure examinations again before they are issued their licences? What is the guarantee that we would not have to pay a third time for one licence even if we should write the licensure examinations?
d. Granted that the regulations made in 2018 should hold, the council was aware that:
I. Some in-service teachers had not written the licensure examinations.
II. There were also non-professional teachers in the Ghana Education Service when they resolved to license every in-service teacher and took fees from them for same.
III. As at the time of taking the fees, most of these teachers certainly would have obtained professional and/or higher certificates relevant to the practice of teaching in Ghana.
Regardless of the above, the council has still denied thousands of the AGGRIEVED UNLICENSED TEACHERS’ ALLIANCE, after authorizing the deduction of the appropriate fee for the licensure from all in-service teachers.
They did not distinguish professionals from non-professionals, neither did they differentiate teachers based on when one obtained their professional certificates while they took the licence fee.
Why are they denying us the licence now on grounds of professional certificates and when they were obtained? Are the certificates obtained after 2018 inferior and needs authentication before they are proven worth qualifying a teacher?
We deem this quick turn, after holding our monies for over a year and denying us the licence we paid for, as unfortunate and unacceptable. It confirms that the council is only interested in exploiting teachers and not their professionalization.
This has not gone well with us and is of grave concern to us. It has affected and will affect our focus, commitment and sacrifice to our work until.
Our members cannot do their work now with the clarity of mind and joy they ought to and the consequences would be dire. If it is left unattended to, we may not be able to take responsibility for what these teachers will do, since several of us are already suffering various undue and inhumane treatments from the GES as regards arrears, promotions, responsibility allowances, poor conditions of service, etc.
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We should, therefore, be grateful if you could intervene to stop this unfair and unacceptable treatment of your cherished teachers. We would like to be issued with our licences exactly the same way our colleaguein-service teachers before 2018 were licensed because we are all professionals irrespective of the date the certificate was obtained. We would also appreciate if you could sound a wake-up call for GES to make its systems flexible and accessible for teachers to be granted all that is due them. We hope to count on you!
Thank you.’
Signed by: NYANTAKYI BOATENG
Convener
On behalf of Aggrieved Unlicensed Teachers Alliance
(0247044442)
[email protected]