GBEST and WASSCE result to be use for CoE admission – NTC

The National Teaching Council says WASSCE results cannot be relied on to offer students admission to Colleges of Education, thus the decision to conduct Ghana Basic Education Skills Examination Test (GBEST) for WASSCE graduates.

NTC’s comment comes after the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) said the management of the Teaching Council as a Regulator and not an Implementer has no right to conduct the entrance test for prospective students.

“NTC once again is attempting to craft a policy and arbitrarily foist it on the education enterprise. NTC should cease being a Regulator and Implementer; it does not have the mandate to be so,” the teacher union said in a statement.

The Association of Teachers in the release copied to AcademicWeek said it is “tired and wearied with this idea of throwing out policies and programmes into the educational milieu without consultations with bodies which matter.”

“We wish to reiterate, that we are not against reforms to education; we stand for the best for education in the country; however, we won’t stand for policies, programmes and pronouncements off-the-cuff,” GNAT noted.

But, Registrar of NTC, Dr Christain Addai Poku speaking at the 12th Congregation of Atebubu College of Education said the GBEST slated for August this year will ensure WASSCE graduates entering the College are fully qualified.

“We need a system that does not rely solely on WASSCE results but something in addition to the results to see if the person entering the College is fully qualified. We could have an entrance exam followed by an interview,” he stated.

The College of Education entrance examination also known as the Ghana Basic Education Skills Examination Test (GBEST) Addai Poku at a stakeholder meeting said will ensure Teacher Training Colleges produce quality teachers.

“The GBEST will, thus, be used as the entry assessment for the trainee teachers and after completion, the students will be made to write a level and subject-based licensure examination to be qualified as professional teachers,” he stated.

According to him, the College entrance examination forms part of reforms being proposed by NTC to harmonise teacher education admissions in the country and also improve teacher education as part of the educational reforms.