GNAPS empowers over 300 teachers with contemporary teaching skills

As part of a government directive to ensure that teachers in Ghanaian classrooms have a minimum qualification of a degree, more than 300 teachers from private schools in the Awutu Senya East Municipality, who are members of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools (GNAPS), have undergone training in teacher professionalism. The training is a prerequisite to enable them to apply for a full-time teacher license within the next three years.

Dennis Osei Owusu, the Head of Public Affairs for the National Teaching Council, explained that the training is intended to enhance the teachers’ competence and position them for effective teaching. Speaking to Citi News.

Mr. Owusu told Citi News, “the law has made it clear that before a teacher enters a Ghanaian classroom to teach, he or she must be a trained teacher or must also possess a teacher’s license. We have seen that most of the private schools in Ghana don’t recruit teachers who are already professionals. In order not to disadvantage anybody, we believe that the best thing to do is to offer training to such teachers to teach for a period of three years and by that time they must have prepared themselves well to sit for the licensure exams,”

The Head of Public Affairs emphasized the importance of including teachers in the private school sector who may lack the necessary qualifications, urging them to actively participate in the exercise to achieve a collective victory.

“This is a great opportunity being offered to teachers within the private school space, and they must take advantage of it to better themselves if they want to remain in this profession”.

After undergoing the five-day training, several private school teachers shared their enthusiasm with Citi News, expressing how positively it will impact their classrooms.

Meanwhile, school owners who participated in the exercise alongside their teachers called on the government to reduce taxes on private schools, enabling them to operate more freely.

“As private schools, the taxes are just too much for us. We have more than eight taxes we pay to government and so at the end of the day, you realize that we are just working to pay taxes. We want everything to be embodied,” Proprietress of Streams in the Desert School complex and Municipal Chairperson of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools Municipal B, Mary Gifty Nyatsikah told Citi News.

Madam Mary expressed concern about the difficulties faced by private schools in maintaining their sustainability and called on the government to provide financial support, given their crucial role in bringing education to communities. She emphasized that the teacher training is timely, as private school educators need to upgrade their teaching methods.

Nicholas Wachoba, the chairman of the Ghana National Association of Private Schools Municipal A, added that the fees for the Basic Education Certificate Examination (BECE) registration are too high, and requested that the government lower the prices, as parents are already facing financial strain.

“My concern is basically with the registration of the BECE registration which has been pegged at 170 cedis and this is a bit too high looking at the already huge financial burden private school parents are faced with and we want the government to do something about it,” Nicholas Wachoba chairman of Municipal A said.

Teachers who had the opportunity to receive training expressed their appreciation, stating that it will provide them with a platform to advance in their profession and work towards obtaining a teacher’s license in the near future.

SOURCE: Coverghana.com.gh