The Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), on 25th August 2022, released a circular to its executive members drawing their attention to the ongoing mass registration of non-professional teachers in Ghana who would be issued the Temporary License by the National Teaching Council to allow them to practice as teachers for the next three years.
Content of GNAPS’ Circular
The circular has drawn the attention of the executive members to the ongoing process and asked them to take a keen interest in it. Point 3 of the circular stated, “License will be issued to the schools so that if the teacher leaves the school they forfeit the license”.
The Position of NCOPST on the Matter
The National Council of Private School Teachers (NCOPST), find this statement unacceptable, misleading and preposterous; misinformation that will not inure to the benefit of Private School Teachers in Ghana. Again, the statement is illegal since it contradicts the dictates of the New Education Act (Act 1023).
Asserting that, they see a hidden agenda being imposed on private school teachers by their employers for their selfish gains against the will and the welfare of the teachers.
They are therefore against this unfortunate directive by the employers and therefore, state categorically, without equivocation that they will oppose the decision on any given grounds.
NTC’s Involvement in the Matter
NCOPST believes strongly that the obnoxious agendum of the employers is being imposed on them at the blind side of the National Teaching Council.
However, if the NTC is a party to this illegality, then they are highly disappointed in them since If there is any union to be engaged in this matter, it should not be their employers such as GNAPS, GNACOPS, and others since they deal with schools and not teachers.
“Our employers are not obliged by any law to obtain and keep our license whatsoever for any reason”, they stated
The Dictates of the Law – Duty of the Employer (School Owners)
The New Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023), section 78, subsection (1) under the heading “Employment of Teachers”; sub-heading “Employment of Registered Teachers” clearly defines the responsibility of the employer (school owner) in the statement “A person shall not knowingly or negligently employ a person as a teacher in an institution unless the person is registered”.
The role of the employer per the Act is to employ registered teachers. The employer is not mandated by any law to obtain and confiscate (where necessary) the license of teachers.
The Dictates of the Law – Duty of Teachers on License Registration
According to the New Education Regulatory Bodies Act 2020 (Act 1023), section 66, subsection (1) under the heading “Registration”; sub-heading “Registration Procedure” clearly defines the responsibility of the Teacher in the statement “A person shall practice as a teacher unless the person is registered as a teacher by this Act.
Subsection (2) A person who seeks to register as a teacher shall apply to the Registrar in the prescribed form. Given the above registration procedure, THERE IS NOWHERE stated that school owners (employers) should register any type of license for their teachers. Rather, the teachers must apply for the license and take full control over it.
What Teachers Need to Know Going Forward
Teachers are, therefore, entreated by the council to note and act according to the following directives to avoid being victims of the tactic to their employers:
- The license registration being conducted by the National Teaching Council is the sole responsibility of the Council and not any school owner.
- If employers, see the need to support; the association appreciates the gesture in good faith. We suggest that they subsidize the ongoing license registration for teachers by paying for the training fee of Ghs150.00 while the teachers pay for the license fee of Ghs100.00. Nevertheless, if they wish to bear the full cost of the entire process, they will appreciate that. What they are against is their intention to use their “benevolence” as bait to enslave teachers in their schools without any legal bases. Such illegality NCOPST will not tolerate.
- NTC is not bound to issue the temporary license to any employer union (school owners). Teachers are to report any employer who will try to confiscate their license to us (NCOPST) for the necessary actions to be taken.
- NTC is the only body which had the authority to confiscate or revoke or cancel the license of any teacher should the teacher misbehave or engage in misconduct.
- We (NCOPST) are waiting on NTC to call for the next stakeholder’s engagement meeting to resolve this issue amicably. We will communicate the outcome of the meeting to our members (All Private School Teachers).
Conclusion
The license registration of non-professional teachers in Ghana is an intervention to allow non-professional teachers to practice as teachers for the next three years. It is a worthy course in which all teachers must get involved.
The license registration process is an intervention approved by major stakeholders to be implemented by the National Teaching Council together with School / Teacher unions such as GNAPS, GNACOPS, NCOPST, NUPSG, and others.
The National Council of Private School Teachers (NCOPST) is not against the exercise. However, they are opposed to the issuance of the temporary license of teachers to school owner’s unions (our employers) to be used to bond teachers to their schools against the will of the teachers. NCOPST sees this situation as a clever means to enslave private school teachers in Ghana considering the relatively severe and harsh working conditions private school teachers have been going through over the years.
They condemn this approach by the employers and therefore call on all non-professional teachers to resist it with all their might.