NTC to introduce a cut-off point for Ghana teacher licensure exam

The management of the National Teaching Council (NTC) following the mass failure recorded in the first phase of the 2023 Ghana teacher licensure examination resit says it is considering introducing a cut-off point for the examination.

The Registrar of NTC, Christian Addai Poku in an interview monitored by AcademicWeek.com said almost 85% of tertiary graduates failed the examination for teachers, a move which has prompted his outfit to introduce the cut-off.

“Almost 85% failed the 2023 teacher licensure resit examination. This shows clearly that we have to introduce a cut-off point for the GTLE. Those resitting the examination and cannot pass are wasting their time and money,” Addai said.

NTC’s Registrar comment comes after Africa Education Watch proposed for the management of the National Teaching Council (NTC) to place a limit on the number of times a candidate can sit for the teacher licensure resit examination.

In a social media post, the Executive Director of EduWatch, Kofi Asare said “Is it true some were writing for the Ghana teacher licensure examination for the 9th time? National Teaching Council (NTC) please, place a cap on resits now.”

In other news, the National Teaching Council following the mass failure recorded in this year’s Ghana teacher licensure examination (GTLE) resit says the questions for the examination are set to ensure the majority of candidates will pass.

Christian Addai Poku, the Registrar of the Teaching Council in an interview monitored by AcademicWeek.com said despite the level of the 2023 GTLE resit questions majority of the candidates could not spell correctly some simple words.

“Some of the teacher licensure examination resit questions are even funny. If the GTLE resit questions are given to a serious Junior High School (JHS) student he/she can answer and pass the examination with ease,” the Registrar said.

He on Joy FM’s Midday News said the mass number of failures has got to do with the GTLE being difficult. However, Christian said that passing the exam has got to do with the competence of the teachers taking the examination.

“As far as we are concerned, these examinations have been run for about five years now. So far, we have run 10 times the examination and the pass rate has always hovered around 60 and 70 per cent,” the Teaching Council’s Registrar noted.

He indicated that the tertiary graduates who could not pass the first phase of the 2023 Ghana teacher licensure examination resit to be licensed as professional teachers and have an opportunity to sit for the exam the last time.

“They have one last opportunity because the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination is going through reform, and when the reform kicks in, the current dispensation will fade out,” the National Teaching Council Director told JoyFM.