Exam for professional licence: IMF’s requirement of a hiring freeze in the public sector might be the cause of widespread failure, according to Prof. Gyampo

Prof. Ransford Gyampo, a political science professor at the University of Ghana, believes that conditions imposed by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are likely to blame for the overwhelming failure of applicants in the teachers licence exam.

In order to help Ghana out of its economic crisis, the Fund has a condition that a hiring freeze in the public sector be implemented. He added Ghanaians shouldn’t be shocked by news that over 6,000 candidates had failed.

According to Prof. Gyampo, “the administration proposed a temporary freeze on public sector hiring as part of their request for help from the International Monetary Fund (IMF).”

He claimed that this “must be taken into account as one of the explanatory factors for the widespread failure of the licencing exam.”

He questioned how “over 6000 teachers would leave the profession if the government decided to halt hiring in the public sector, which would place financial strain on the government.”

According to Prof. Gyampo, those who are evaluating applicants who failed the licencing exam must take care not to demoralise them.

He advised Ghanaians to approach the topic with “caution and hesitation in order to avoid disheartening and disrespecting those who aspire to pursue the noble profession of teaching.”

In addition, he continued, “Many of the aspiring instructors entered the field of teaching not out of a passion for the profession but rather as a definite assurance against their possible unemployment after school.

Prof. Gyampo made the case that instructors entering the field just to find rapid work for themselves cannot be considered to be a member of the honourable profession.

He said that teaching “is a profession that should only be pursued by talented students.”

In this sense, he claimed, persons without a calling like that shouldn’t be permitted to approach the honourable profession.

The decision to become a teacher shouldn’t be driven by unemployment.

At long last, Prof. Gyampo demanded a thorough revision of the standard of instruction and training at the various training facilities for teacher candidates.

Some of the centres, he said, simply lack the necessary infrastructure to carry out the tasks they have been given, and he added that the notion of distance education, which treats students poorly, has to be reexamined because it is also a contributing factor to the issue.