Teachers kick against payment for Professional Licences

Teacher Unions of the country have called for the immediate suspension of the policy for the payment of GH¢200.00 each by the In-Service Teachers to secure Teacher Professional Licences.

They also requested that the payment of GH¢100.00 Renewal Fees of the licence for every two years should be deferred.

They said failure to their call would leave them with no option than to advise themselves accordingly.

This was in a statement jointly signed by Ms Philippa Larsen, President, Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT), Mr Eric Agbe-Carbonu, President, National Association of Graduate Teachers (NAGRAT), Mr King Ali Awudu, President, Coalition of Concerned Teachers (CCT-Gh) and copied to the Ghana News Agency on Monday.

It said: “We wish to caution further that should the NTC fail to heed to our call and go ahead with the implementation of the payment of the said GHc200.00 and GHc100.00 fees, Leadership of the Teacher Unions would not be able to control the actions or inactions of its members.”

The statement said it came to the attention of the Teacher Unions comprising the GNAT, the NAGRAT and the CCT-Gh with shock and disbelief that all In-Service Teachers would be required to pay GH¢200.00 each to secure their Teacher Professional Licences and also pay Renewal Fees of GH¢100.00 for two years.

The statement referred to a meeting of Teacher Unions with the Ministry of Education (MoE), Ghana Education Service (GES) and the NTC held from November 1 to 3, 2018 at Oyarifa, regarding concerns raised by the Teacher Union on the formulation and subsequent implementation of the Pre-Tertiary Teacher Professional Development Management (PTPDM) Policies, which excluded the inputs of the Unions.

It said subsequently, the Unions received six documents from the NTC on June 21, 2019 and a careful and thorough examination of the documents clearly showed that the inputs of the Unions had indeed been disregarded.

“We wish to emphasise that prior to the Oyarifa meeting, the Teacher Unions had submitted our inputs into the PTPDM Policies but surprisingly, not only did the NTC fail to respond to the letter, but also ignored the inputs and concerns made by the Unions into the said documents,” the statement said.

“We wish to place on record that the submission of the second documents containing the inputs of the Teacher Unions led to the Oyarifa meeting,” the statement said.

The statement said as of today, the Unions have not received the documents from the NTC.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the following, among others were agreed at the Oyarifa meeting, that; a valid Professional Teaching Licence would be for a period of four years; all fees (registration and renewal) must be negotiated with the Unions before implementation; and the modalities for fixing the fees must be incorporated into the policy document.”

The statement said it was therefore surprising, unfortunate and disturbing that the NTC had gone ahead to announce duration and fees, without prior social dialogue with the Teacher Unions.

“It is in the absence of this social dialogue that the Teachers Unions which are social partners and critical stakeholders in the education enterprise, have consistently demanded engagements on the process in order not to undermine the implementation of the policy.

“We are by this press release therefore, requesting for the immediate suspension of the policy,” it said.