The National Executive Director of Ghana National Council of Private Schools (GNACOPS), Mr. Enoch Kwasi Gyetuah bemoan the moves which seem to aim at scaring teachers and intimidating schools in the private sector over issues of teacher license which NaSIA has no jurisdiction over. He made this know on ASEM YI DIKA show on ATV monitored by Ghanaeducation.org
According to him, private schools contribute nearly 49% of education delivery in Ghana and employ nearly 294,000 staff.
Today, persons who want to be recognized as professional teachers must meet the basic requirements and standards set by the NTC for the award of a teaching license that meets the applicant’s qualification.
The NTC is the only mandated body to issue such teacher licenses in Ghana and not other regulatory bodies
He said, attempts to put fear into teachers and schools in the private sector shall be resisted based on the mandate of NaSIA as contained in the EDUCATION REGULATORY BODIES ACT, 2020 AN ACT 1023.
Mr. Gyetuah said, NaSIA has no control in matters relating to the issuing of Teacher Licenses but to monitor both public and private schools while putting in place standards to be met.
They cannot act ultra vires and seem to be performing the roles of the NTC. To a large extent, they can question schools as to why teachers do not have licenses but cannot decide which categories of teachers schools can employ when the body mandated to issue licenses has not issued them to teachers and while the Act permits the employment of teachers of various categories.
The functions of NaSIA are to Develop, Publish, Promote and Enforce quality standards for the various categories of schools at the pre-tertiary level he added.
Section 88. The objects of the Authority are to (a) develop; (b) publish; (c) promote, and (d) enforce highest quality standards and guidelines for quality education in public and private pre-tertiary education institutions.
He added that private schools were part of stakeholders who made valuable inputs into the current Act after they were permitted to embark on a national consultation with all private schools to seek their views for inclusion in the regulatory Act for the education sector.
“In 2018 private schools called for a national tour to receive inputs from private schools through stakeholder consultation for inclusion in the Act,” He said.
According to him, one concern of private schools which was raised and deal with was why the Ghana Education Service which was a competitor of private schools was given the mandate to regulate them. But today, that duty has been transferred to the NaSIA.
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He said, a statement from NaSIA that, from May 2020 private schools had to employ only licensed teachers was quickly debunked by his outfit because the Act permitted the employment of such persons as stated in Section 79 and 80.
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Any attempted to push unregistered and unprofessional teachers out of the education sector will have serious implications on the education of young minds in the country, he added.