The National Teaching Council (NTC) has moved to allay fears that the teacher licensure examination has been scrapped, clarifying that the assessment has rather been integrated into the final examination of teacher trainees and will no longer be conducted as a standalone test.
Addressing a press briefing in Accra yesterday, the Board Chairman of the NTC, Emmanuel Kwame Alorvi, explained that the examination had undergone significant modifications to enhance its effectiveness, including the introduction of a practical component which now constitutes 30 per cent of the final assessment.
The briefing was necessitated by public concerns that the National Democratic Congress (NDC) government had backtracked on its campaign promise to abolish the licensure examination.
Mr Alorvi, however, reiterated that the government had fulfilled its pledge by reforming the examination rather than outrightly cancelling it, as the party’s 2024 manifesto had promised to “abolish the teacher licensure examination and integrate the licensure process into the final year examination of teacher trainees.”
He explained that the old system required trainees to complete college and wait for up to one year before sitting for a six-hour pencil-and-paper examination covering literacy, numeracy and essential professional skills, with no practical assessment component.
“Teaching involves pedagogical knowledge as well as content knowledge. The old examination had no teaching practice part. They all wrote the examination without any practical aspect,” Mr Alorvi stated.
Following the NDC’s assumption of office, the Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, constituted a seven-member committee to develop modalities for implementing the new licensing policy. The committee submitted its report on May 28, 2025, recommending a three-tier approach.
According to Mr Alorvi, the first tier addressed trainees who had completed college in 2025 and those resitting the examination under the old system. This category was given the opportunity to write the licensure examination in its previous format, which was phased out in August 2025.
The second tier applies to current teacher trainees, who will now write the reformed licensure examination as part of their final semester assessments. Under the new structure, teaching practice constitutes 30 per cent of the total marks, alongside literacy, numeracy and professional skills assessments.
“The reform recognises that teaching involves both practical and content. So, 30 per cent of the teaching practice they did at college formed part of their assessment in 2025. That’s the new reform,” Mr Alorvi added.
The third tier proposes a screening process for prospective students to ensure that only qualified candidates gain admission into colleges of education. This recommendation stems from concerns over the high failure rate in previous licensure examinations.
Mr Alorvi questioned whether the poor performance stemmed from inadequate preparation, lack of seriousness among trainees, or the admission of candidates who were not of the best quality into the colleges.
“The NTC should engage all stakeholders, including the teacher unions, so that, if possible, we can screen the candidates going to the colleges of education. If they don’t pass the screening process, they don’t enter because if they enter, that means they spend money on training allowance,” he explained.
Also present at the briefing were the Registrar of NTC, Dr Christian Addai-Poku, and other management staff.
