‘We won’t pay a pesewa’ – Teachers kick against GHc 200 license fees

In-Service Teachers across the country have kicked against a GHC 200 fee for the acquisition of the Teacher Professional License.

The teachers, who were in service before the introduction of the licensure exam, are to pay GHc200 to secure the license.

They will also be paying GHC100 for renewal every two years.

Speaking to Citi News after a crunch meeting in Accra, the three Teacher Unions asked their members not to pay for the license until they agree on a reasonable amount with the National Teaching Council.

Phillipa Larsen, the National President of the Ghana National Association of Teachers (GNAT) who speaks for the teacher unions insisted that:

“There have been series of meetings where we have started discussions on how much these in-service teachers have to pay for the registration and renewal. These teachers were appointed before 2018 and came through the licensure examinations. So these are issues we have to sit down with the NTC to come out with a figure. At our last meeting, we realized that our inputs were not captured in the document. So we are protesting strongly until we discuss the issue and come to a conclusion on how much in-service teachers should pay. No teacher will pay a pesewa until all the teacher unions come to together to negotiate.”

Meanwhile, the National Teaching Council (NTC) says it is opened to further deliberations on a possible review of the fees.

Executive Secretary of NTC, Christian Addae Poku indicated that the negotiations will be held to make the teaching profession better.

“NTC is ready to talk to the teacher unions because they are the most important people in this whole situation. If you are professionalizing teachers, the unions represent them. So if teachers have started raising issues, we will look at it. We will all discuss it dispassionately to make sure that licensing is made accessible to every teacher so we do not undervalue our profession. Teaching must be comparable and even better than any other profession in the country.”