The Minister of Education, Haruna Iddrisu, has instructed the governing council of the National Teaching Council (NTC) to begin steps to phase out the teacher licensure examinations by August 30.
He explained that this directive is intended to pave the way for a smooth transition as government prepares to abolish the exams altogether.
Mr. Iddrisu expressed confidence that eliminating the licensure exams will help fulfill a key campaign promise made by President John Mahama—to ensure that teachers do not have to take additional examinations after completing their training.
“There is still the vexed matter of teacher licensure exams; the last of it must be concluded not later than 30th August. If there is the last opportunity for those who sat and couldn’t make it, that process should not travel beyond 30th August,” he said.
In a related development, the Minister has directed the NTC to explore the use of teachers’ pension funds as collateral for constructing housing facilities to address their accommodation needs.
“If, for instance, teachers will agree that at the end of each month you make a total contribution of 200 cedis, government can probably complement it with another 200, and then we can build a two- or three-bedroom house and use the pension fund as guaranteed collateral,” he suggested.
Mr. Iddrisu, who also serves as Member of Parliament for Tamale South, has tasked the newly constituted Governing Council of the Chartered Institute of Banking to address the rising incidents of fraud within the financial sector.
“Last year, there was an alarming increase of 3,500 reported cases involving about GH₵110 million. This underscores the urgent need for sustained professional education and an ethical and regulatory framework.
“We are concerned about fraud in the banking sector and the use of ICT tools, and our worry sometimes is that some of these frauds cannot be possible without the facilitation of a few people within the sector,” he emphasised.
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