Chairman of the Ghana National Education Campaign Coalition (GNECC), Kofi Asare has attributed some lapses in Ghana’s educational system to weak management systems and poor quality of teachers. He made this observation while reacting to the recent World Bank human capital index which scored Ghana at the bottom particularly in education. The five lowest-ranked countries in terms of education were all African countries; Niger, 305; Ghana 307; Mali, 307; Sierra Leone, 316 and the Democratic Republic of Congo 318. According to Mr. Asare, the mass failure in the licensure exams for two years in a row is an indication that the quality of teachers was questionable. In an interview with Winston Amoah on 3FM’s Sunrise morning show, he noted that “out of about 7,000 teachers who sat for the licensure exams last year, more than 30% of them failed. This year too almost 30% failed.” “So if our system that produces our teachers certify teachers that they are competent to go and teach, but a recent licensure examination, fails consistently a minimum of 30%, then it should tell you that the quality of our teachers is not up to the standard required”, he argued. He noted that the quality of education was not determined only by the quality of the teacher but also the efficiency of the management system in place to ensure that teachers were accountable to the state and deliver on quality. Mr. Asare proposed a focus on strengthening and monitoring management and teacher’s supervision to yield the desired results. A member of the Ghana National Association of Teachers, (GNAT), Thomas Musah who was also on the show said teachers were not given adequate teaching materials that would allow them to deliver effectively. “Before a teacher goes to teach, there are some materials a teacher must go along with for students to appreciate a course. Government is expected to provide the teaching and learning materials” he emphasized. By Paul Selorm Agbo |3news.com|Ghana]]>