“GNAT is very grateful to Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh” – GNAT Secretary General | Education

The Secretary General of the Ghana National Teachers Association (GNAT), Mr. Thomas T. Musah, has expressed his deep gratitude to the Honorable Minister of Education, Dr. Mathew Opoku Prempeh for his swift contribution to the introduction of the one-year degree . -up program for teachers with diploma certificates.

In an exclusive interaction with the News Desk of the Universities of Education Weekly Magazine, Mr. Musah noted: “We want to give a huge thanks to the Honorable Minister of Education. You’ve done a great job pushing this year-long refill program. Upon receiving our letter on the matter, he acted quickly and here we are. Therefore, GNAT thanks Dr. Matthew Opoku Prempeh for his prompt action. “

Mr. Musah also expressed his sincere appreciation to the officials of the Cape Coast University Institute of Education, Ghana Education Service, Prof. Kwesi Yankah – Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Mr. Robin Todd, the T-TEL leader, Prof. Mohammed Salifu and all those who played a vital role in making this initiative a success. Thanks to the News Desk of the Colleges of Education News Journal for the constant reporting and updating on this topic.

Mr. Musah took the opportunity to warn all diploma teachers to enroll in this unprecedented year-long supplemental program. He reiterated that they should bear in mind that by 2022, their subsequent University graduates will graduate with a degree and will be placed in the rank of Principal Superintendent. Therefore, it is prudent for all those with Diploma to register now.

The University of Cape Coast Institute of Education on October 5, 2020 officially published the admissions notice.

The admissions notice indicated that the 3-Semester Bachelor of Education (Post-Diploma in Basic Education) Programs in sandwich mode are starting in the first semester of the 2020/2021 academic year. This is to give holders of a Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) the opportunity to advance to a Bachelor’s degree.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a combined mode of instruction (hence online and face-to-face approach) will be adopted. Eligible students must have a smartphone or tablet or any device that allows them to connect to the Internet. Applicants will be automatically enrolled in the program of their choice by completing an online form. No fee is required before completing the online application forms. Only those who have passed the Diploma in Basic Education Exams will need to complete the form. Applicants must complete the online form indicating the program of their choice and the Study Center, according to their elective subject areas.

The programs that will be offered are: B.ED. (Post-Diploma) in Early Childhood Education, B.ED. (Post-Diploma) in Primary Education and B.ED. (Post-Diploma) Secondary Education (JHS). Selected colleges of education across the country will be used as study centers.

Background

On March 23, 2020, the Secretary General of the GNAT, in a letter addressed to the Minister of Education, appealed to the Minister about the need to introduce a one-year complementary program for teachers of the Diploma in Basic Education to obtain a Bachelor’s Degree in Education. Below are excerpts from the letter addressed to the Minister of Education.
According to the Ghana Teacher Training Policy Reform, August 2017, the current three-year Diploma in Basic Education (DBE) curriculum, used for initial teacher training in colleges of education , has not adequately responded to the need to improve the learning outcomes of children in the Basic School System. The policy identified several other challenges facing our school system due to the type of training offered to higher education teachers in Ghana.

Therefore, a fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of initial teacher education programs is required to achieve an improvement in the quality of new teachers and learning outcomes.

To solve the problem, the government of Ghana initiated education reforms in 2017 to transform teaching and learning and improve educational outcomes. The final objectives of these reforms are “to provide a quality educational service at all levels that will equip students in educational institutions with the skills, competencies and awareness that would make them functional citizens who can contribute to the achievement of development objectives. national”.

In view of the above, the review of the curriculum and the establishment of teaching standards in Teacher Training Institutions were completed and the document on Transformation of Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) was approved by the Cabinet. In 2018, the Ministry continued with Teacher Training Reforms that led to the upgrade of all public education faculties to existing public university campuses to become degree-granting institutions (as indicated in the Statement of Budget and Economic Policy of the Government of Ghana for the 2018 Financial Year).

This led to the development and subsequent design of a new four-year bachelor of education curriculum for the training of teachers of the basic school system through a national process of stakeholder engagement with universities, colleges of education, institutions teacher regulators, experts in national curricula, NGOs. and OSC.
Unfortunately, holders of the Diploma in Basic Education from the Faculties of Education have been left out of the reforms. This has created a gap in the alignment of the planned initial teacher education curriculum with the ongoing reform of the initial education curriculum to improve the quality of teaching and learning and improve learning outcomes.

In GNAT’s view, a successful management system is one in which stakeholders act in concert. The history of uncoordinated management systems has been duly damaging and should never be reviewed. Therefore, we consider it necessary to make a decision on the holders of the Diploma in Basic Education. Apart from the fact that these teachers will remain in the service for some time, they will also have to bear the burden of teaching the contents of the new educational systems.

In the letter addressed to the Minister of Education, the GNAT therefore proposed that holders of the Diploma in Basic Education certificate be offered a complementary one-year program to obtain the Bachelor of Education degree. This will ensure that holders of the Diploma in Basic Education are not disadvantaged. It will also help prevent current anxiety and concerns of Diploma in Basic Education certificate holders that their third-year college students will become their seniors in profession and rank in the next few years, and subsequently earn more. compensation than them.